TRILLION

Nov. 21 (UPI) — Healthcare giant Eli Lilly on Friday became the first global healthcare company to hit $1 trillion in value.

The Indiana-based company hit the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold for a brief period at roughly $1,061 a share during morning hour trading before it scaled back.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was the first known non-tech company to reach the trillion-dollar valuation mark.

The company is currently riding on the popularity of its Zepbound weightloss inject and Mounjaro, which is Eli’s diabetes treatment.

Eli Lilly has long been a player in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 100 years, introducing such medication as Prozac in the early 1990s and the Humulin insulin drug.

In June, Eli revealed its billion-dollar buyout of Boston-based Verve Therapeutics to advance Verve’s new line of experimental cardiac health drugs.

Meanwhile, a medical and science expert pointed out that American citizens currently “are getting slammed by medical bills and rising care costs.”

“One in four is in medical debt. Eli Lilly just hit a $1 trillion valuation. Two realities, same healthcare system,” Dr. Carolyn Barber posted Friday on X.

The company’s stock has zoomed this year, driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market.

Eli Lilly has hit $1 trillion in market value, making it the first drugmaker to enter the exclusive club dominated by tech giants and underscoring its rise as a weight-loss powerhouse.

A more than 35 percent rally in the company’s stock this year has largely been driven by the explosive growth of the weight-loss drug market and saw it join the $1 trillion club on Friday.

Once seen as a niche category, obesity treatments are now one of the most lucrative segments in healthcare, with steadily rising demand.

Novo Nordisk had the early lead in the space, but Lilly’s drugs – Mounjaro and Zepbound – have surged in popularity and helped eclipse its rival in prescriptions.

The company’s shares were up 1.3 percent at a record high of $1,057.70.

Lilly now trades at one of the richest valuations in big pharma, at about 50 times its expected earnings over the next 12 months, according to LSEG data, reflecting investors’ belief that demand for obesity drugs will remain strong.

Shares have also far outpaced the broader United States equity market. Since the launch of Zepbound in late 2023, Lilly has gained more than 75 percent, compared with a more than 50 percent rise in the S&P 500 over the same period.

In the latest reported quarter, Lilly posted combined revenue of more than $10.09bn from its obesity and diabetes portfolio, accounting for more than half of its total revenue of $17.6bn.

“They are doing so many things outside of obesity, but to suggest anything is driving share price beyond obesity at this point, I don’t know if that would be a factual statement,” said Kevin Gade, chief operating officer at Lilly shareholder Bahl and Gaynor, in advance of the milestone.

‘Sales phenomenon’

Wall Street estimates the weight-loss drug market to be worth $150bn by 2030, with Lilly and Novo together controlling the majority of projected global sales.

Investors are now focused on Lilly’s oral obesity drug, orforglipron, which is expected to be approved early next year.

In a note last week, Citi analysts said the latest generation of GLP-1 drugs have already been a “sales phenomenon”, and orforglipron is poised to benefit from the “inroads made by its injectable predecessors”.

Lilly’s recent deal with the White House to cut prices for its weight-loss drugs, as well as planned investments to expand drug production, augur well for its growth.

Lilly is starting to resemble the “Magnificent Seven” again, said James Shin, director of Biopharma Equity Research at Deutsche Bank, referring to the seven tech heavyweights, including Nvidia and Microsoft, that have powered much of the market’s returns this year.

At one point, investors viewed it as part of that elite group, but after some disappointing headlines and earnings, it slipped out of favour.

Now, however, it seems poised to rejoin that circle, possibly even as an alternative for investors, especially given recent concerns and weakness in some AI stocks, he added.

Still, analysts and investors are watching whether Lilly can sustain its current growth as prices of Mounjaro and Zepbound come under pressure, and whether its scale-up plans, along with its diversified pipeline and dealmaking, will offset margin pressure.

The burst of energy was likely triggered when an unusually large star wandered too close to the black hole.

Scientists have documented the most energetic flare ever observed emanating from a supermassive black hole, a cataclysmic event that briefly shone with the light of 10 trillion suns.

The new findings were published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Astronomy, with astronomer Matthew Graham of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) leading the study.

The phenomenal burst of energy was likely triggered when an unusually large star wandered too close to the black hole and was violently shredded and swallowed.

“However it happened, the star wandered close enough to the supermassive black hole that it was ‘spaghettified’ – that is, stretched out to become long and thin, due to the gravity of the supermassive black hole strengthening as you get very close to it. That material then spiralled around the supermassive black hole as it fell in,” said astronomer and study co-author KE Saavik Ford.

The supermassive black hole was unleashed by a black hole roughly 300 million times the mass of the sun residing inside a faraway galaxy, about 11 billion light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

The star, estimated to be between 30 and 200 times the mass of the sun, was turned into a stream of gas that heated up and shined intensely as it spiralled into oblivion.

Almost every large galaxy, including our Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole at its centre. But scientists still aren’t sure how they form.

First spotted in 2018 by the Palomar Observatory, operated by the Caltech, the flare took about three months to reach its peak brightness, becoming roughly 30 times more luminous than any previously recorded event of its kind. It is still ongoing, but diminishing in luminosity, with the entire process expected to take about 11 years to complete.

Because of how far away the black hole is located, observing the flash gives scientists a rare glimpse into the universe’s early epoch. Studying these immense, distant black holes helps researchers better understand how they form, how they influence their local stellar neighbourhoods, and the fundamental interactions that shaped the cosmos we know today.