Eli Lilly is betting big on its experimental oral weight-loss drug even before reporting data from its late-stage trial by recording nearly $550 million in "pre-launch inventory" in its financial statements,

Few big pharma stocks have been bigger winners over the last three years than Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Lilly now ranks as the largest drugmaker in the world, with a market cap of $844 billion, after its shares skyrocketed more than 270%. Novo Nordisk stock is up around 75% despite a pullback in recent months.

Eli Lilly’s (LLY) new weight loss pill is still in clinical trials and has not yet been approved by regulators. But that hasn’t stopped the

The recent surge has been due to the tremendous growth Lilly has achieved due to its highly popular GLP-1 drugs, including Mounjaro (for diabetes) and Zepbound (for weight loss). Together, those two products generated $5.4 billion in sales for Eli Lilly last quarter, or 40% of the top line.

The weight-loss drug boom has transformed Eli Lilly (LLY), the maker of Zepbound, into the largest healthcare company in the world. Now, the pharma giant wants to reinvest its success with weight-loss meds into tackling some of the world’s toughest health challenges.