New York, Feb 28, 2026, 11:24 EST — The session ended with markets closed.
- Eli Lilly snapped a three-session losing streak, finishing Friday 2.9% higher.
- Lilly’s latest oral obesity pill trial data kept the spotlight fixed on what’s next for its GLP-1 pipeline.
- Up ahead: the FDA verdict, anticipated in April, and Lilly’s earnings call set for April 30.
Eli Lilly and Co (LLY) jumped 2.93% to finish at $1,051.99 on Friday, breaking a three-session slide. U.S. markets remain closed Saturday.
The rebound is significant—Lilly shares have turned into a kind of shorthand for just how quickly the company can expand access to its weight-loss lineup, and for how long it can keep its pricing edge. Now, with the market shut, investors get a two-day window to hash out the implications of those latest pill results.
The discussion centers on orforglipron, Lilly’s investigational once-daily pill in the wider GLP-1 drug category—these meds lower blood sugar and help suppress appetite. Pills, in particular, are getting attention; they’re easier to take than injections, which could alter the patient pool.
The stock dropped 0.66% Thursday to $1,022.02, marking a third consecutive decline ahead of Friday’s action.
Even as the S&P 500 dropped 0.43% and the Dow slid 1.05% Friday, shares of some major pharma names moved higher. Lilly managed to notch a gain for the day, though it still closed 7.23% below its Jan. 8 high of $1,133.95, according to market data.
Lilly’s orforglipron triggered more side effects and saw higher drop-out rates compared to Novo Nordisk’s Rybelsus in a diabetes trial, final data released Thursday showed. On the higher, 36-mg dose, 58% of patients had mild-to-moderate gastrointestinal issues, versus 45% of those taking the 14 mg semaglutide pill. Roughly 10% taking orforglipron stopped treatment, compared to 5% for semaglutide. “We think that the totality of the profile here is a trade-off that patients will be very happy to make,” said Kenneth Custer, president of Lilly Cardiometabolic Health. Reuters
Still, tolerability is getting flagged as the key issue by clinicians—especially if investors decide pill-to-pill matchups are a done deal. “We can’t fully divorce side effects from effectiveness,” said Rozalina McCoy, endocrinologist and internist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Stronger efficacy, she noted, can also mean tougher side effects. Scientific American
The FDA is slated to weigh in on orforglipron in April. Lilly, meanwhile, has been stocking up, with $1.5 billion worth of pre-launch inventory on hand, according to a recent filing cited by Reuters.
The next earnings call for Lilly is set for April 30 at 10:00 a.m. EDT, as listed on its investor site.
Monday’s session will test whether Friday’s bounce has legs, with attention locked on updates around the pill’s safety. April 30 marks the next key moment for the stock—Lilly is set to release its figures on sales, supply, and pipeline progress, the latter still driving the bulk of results.
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