Trump Invested in Eli Lilly Stock as Administration Boosted Obesity Drug Policies

President Trump purchased up to $680,000 in Eli Lilly stock between January and March 2026, with the first purchase on January 6, 2026, two days before the January 8 deadline for manufacturers to apply for the BALANCE Medicare program offering GLP-1 drugs at $50 monthly. Trump also bought $250,000-$500,000 in West Pharmaceutical Services stock on February 10, 2026. Ethics disclosures were released May 14, 2026.

Trump's Eli Lilly stock purchases

• ▪The federal government released ethics disclosures on May 14, 2026 revealing stock and bond trades made on Trump's behalf from January to March 2026
• ▪The first of seven Eli Lilly stock purchases made on Trump's behalf occurred on January 6, 2026
• ▪President Donald Trump bought as much as $680,000 in Eli Lilly stock between January and March 2026
• ▪Four of the Eli Lilly stock purchases are marked 'unsolicited' on the disclosure forms
• ▪Trump made a purchase of West Pharmaceutical Services stock valued between $250,000 and $500,000 on February 10, 2026

Medicare GLP-1 reimbursement program

• ▪The deadline for drug manufacturers to submit applications indicating their interest in participating in the BALANCE program was January 8, 2026
• ▪The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed a pilot program called BALANCE through which Medicare patients would pay $50 a month for GLP-1 drugs

Administration policies benefiting Lilly

• ▪TrumpRx offers Zepbound for as low as $299 a month and points patients to LillyDirect, Eli Lilly's telemedicine service
• ▪The FDA intensified a broad crackdown on 'compounded' GLP-1s in February 2026
• ▪The FDA approved Eli Lilly's Foundayo weight loss pill in April 2026 under FDA Commissioner Marty Makary's National Priority Voucher program
• ▪FDA Commissioner Marty Makary stepped down in May 2026
• ▪The Trump administration unveiled TrumpRx in February 2026, a web portal directing patients to lower-price versions of some drugs

Lilly's GLP-1 market performance

• ▪Eli Lilly is valued by the stock market at just under $1 trillion
• ▪GLP-1 drugs accounted for a substantial portion of Eli Lilly's $65 billion in 2025 revenue
• ▪West Pharmaceutical Services credited growth in West Pharmaceutical Services' GLP-1 business with driving increased revenue in West Pharmaceutical Services' most recent quarter
• ▪Fifty-six percent of those who had used GLP-1s found the medications hard to afford according to a KFF poll in fall 2025
• ▪Eli Lilly said at the beginning of 2026 that Eli Lilly expected revenue above $80 billion in 2026
• ▪Eli Lilly had $65 billion in revenue in 2025, up $20 billion from 2024
• ▪Eli Lilly's 2025 annual filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission said LillyDirect was a 'growing portion of our business.'
• ▪Twelve percent of U.S. adults reported currently using GLP-1s in fall 2025 according to a KFF poll