Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC that Medicare will begin covering obesity drugs later this year under pricing agreements struck with the administration, and Lilly expects its experimental oral GLP-1 pill, orforglipron, to be covered "immediately following that launch." Ricks noted that many patients currently pay cash for Novo Nordisk’s competing injection, but broad Medicare reimbursement could expand access to tens of thousands of new patients. Lilly plans a full commercial rollout in Q2, positioning orforglipron to capture a sizable share of the obesity treatment market at a time when analysts forecast double-digit annual growth in GLP-1 prescriptions. Lilly has entered a partnership with Repertoire Immune Medicines valued at up to $1.93 billion to co-develop novel therapies for multiple autoimmune diseases. Under the deal, Lilly will fund early-stage research and hold worldwide commercialization rights, while Repertoire applies its single-cell discovery platform to identify proprietary targets. The collaboration expands Lilly’s immunology pipeline beyond its existing late-stage assets and follows a string of strategic alliances aimed at diversifying the company’s long-term growth drivers. Investors view the agreement as accretive to projected earnings per share starting in 2028, assuming at least one candidate reaches Phase III trials by 2027. On January 29, 2026, Lilly announced a $3.5 billion investment to build a large-scale manufacturing facility in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, slated to begin construction later this year and become operational by 2031. The plant will produce next-generation obesity injections, including retatrutide, which delivered the highest weight loss to date in a late-stage trial. This facility is the fourth in Lilly’s U.S. expansion plan and follows commitments of over $50 billion in domestic manufacturing since 2020. The site is expected to create 850 permanent jobs and 2,000 construction roles, strengthening Lilly’s ability to meet surging demand and avoid the supply constraints that disrupted GLP-1 availability in 2024.