More than $70 billion from two peptides: the industry by the numbers

The two giants

Peptides are no longer a niche. Eli Lilly reported revenue of $65.179 billion in 2025; Mounjaro ($22.965 billion) and Zepbound ($13.542 billion), both tirzepatide, together topped $36.5 billion. For 2026 the company projects $80–83 billion¹¹⁵.

Novo Nordisk sold DKK 309.1 billion in 2025, about $46.8 billion²³. Ozempic contributed DKK 127.089 billion and Wegovy DKK 79.106 billion, and its three semaglutide products totaled about $34.6 billion³; obesity sales grew 31% at constant exchange rates². The company estimates 45.6 million patients were using its products at the end of 2025, most with diabetes².

A class with a history

The success is not new. Since insulin, introduced in the 1920s¹¹, more than 80 peptide drugs have reached the market for diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, HIV and chronic pain⁴. What is new is the scale: GLP-1 agonists showed benefits beyond weight, such as 20% fewer major cardiovascular events (HR 0.80) with semaglutide in 17,604 adults with established cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity, without diabetes⁵. And in obesity trials, semaglutide was associated with −14.9% body weight at 68 weeks (STEP 1)¹² and tirzepatide with up to −20.9% at 72 weeks at the highest dose (SURMOUNT-1)¹³.

Demand that does not slow

In Panama, 72% of adults have overweight or obesity⁶. Across the region, PAHO warned in 2026 about GLP-1 sales online and on social media⁷, and in the US the FDA had received, as of 31 May 2026, 990 adverse-event reports with compounded semaglutide and more than 730 with compounded tirzepatide⁸. The alerts describe the problem, but they also confirm something: demand is huge and real. Globally, the WHO estimates that obesity affects more than 1 billion people and projects that by 2030 GLP-1s will reach fewer than 10% of those who could benefit¹⁴.

The parallel market

Alongside the pharmaceutical industry, a market of research peptides, compounding and wellness clinics has grown. At the 2026 FDA committee, a member who voted yes summed it up: "Our patients want peptides", and added that the FDA "has zero control over that channel"⁹. That market is why regulators, doctors and manufacturers are now debating how to give it standards rather than ignore it⁹¹⁰. Quality is the weak point: when researchers bought semaglutide without a prescription from illegal online pharmacies, the vials they received had a purity of 7.7% to 14.4%, far from the 99% on the label¹⁶.