Eli Lilly has dominated headlines in recent months, recently taking the crown as the most valuable company in the biopharma industry by market cap. And the song remains much the same in analytics firm Clarivate’s Drugs to Watch 2026 report, reports Fierce Pharma.
The annual outlook, which identifies 11 potential blockbusters and transformative medicines, highlights two cardiometabolic treatments from the Indianapolis company, which have yet to be approved but could ultimately take the place of its current cash cows Mounjaro and Zepbound.
Lilly’s investigational treatments are the daily GLP-1 pill orforglipron, which is slated for an FDA decision by March this year, and the triple-action weekly injection retatrutide, which Clarivate expects will be ready for launch in 2028.
Both assets are under development in obesity, diabetes and a host of other related indications.
The Clarivate analysts project sales of orforglipron will reach a whopping $16bn in 2031 and that retatrutide will generate revenue of $30bn in the same year, an astounding figure which includes $10bn in sales as an obesity treatment and $20bn as a medicine for diabetes.
Clarivate’s report highlights the continued ascent of the obesity and metabolic disease market, as well as how Lilly has positioned itself to take full advantage. Morgan Stanley projects the overall cardiometabolic medicine market will reach $150bn by 2035.
“The GLP-1 receptor agonist (RA) revolution is entering a new phase of maturation and diversification,” Clarivate wrote. “Orforglipron and retatrutide exemplify the next generation of metabolic therapies: oral formulations that promise improved adherence, triple-hormone mechanisms that deliver superior weight loss and expanded therapeutic applications spanning from brain health to renal disease.”
As for the 2031 sales projections of the drugs on Clarivate’s 2026 list, orforglipron and retatrutide eclipse all others. The remaining medicines Clarivate highlighted have much lower sales projections than Lilly’s, with no others expected to surpass the $2bn threshold in 2031, according to Clarivate’s reckoning.
Johnson & Johnson is the only other company with two drugs named – bladder cancer treatment Inlexzo, which gained FDA approval in September last year, and immunotherapy icotrokinra, which Clarivate expects will be launched this year.
The analysts project 2031 sales of the duo at $1.8bn and $1.5bn, respectively.
Inlexzo made the grade with Clarivate for its bladder-sparing, “paradigm-shifting” drug-releasing system, which allows for extended release of the chemotherapy gemcitabine directly to patients’ bladders through an intravesical system that can be placed in minutes in an outpatient setting.
Icotrokinra, meanwhile, is poised to become the first-to-market targeted oral peptide designed to block the interleukin (IL)-23 receptor, which plays a key role in the inflammatory process in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis as well as ulcerative colitis, Clarivate said.
Clarivate also singled out two protein degrader cancer drugs, including BeOne Medicine’s BGB-16673. The once-daily oral treatment is set for a potential launch in 2027 and has the potential to become a “paradigm-changing treatment for B-cell malignancies”, the report notes.
The asset could be effective at treating multiple haematological cancers as well, according to the analysts. Clarivate projects the drug’s sales at $1.2bn in 2031.
The other protein degrader on Clarivate’s radar is Bristol Myers Squibb’s mezigdomide, which is expected to launch in 2026 and could generate $1.5bn in 2031. The oral second-generation cereblon E3 ligase modulator could be a new option for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who’ve previously been treated with immunomodulatory drugs, Clarivate said.
Yet another oncology drug on the list comes in the form of Celcuity’s gedatolisib, which is set up for launch this year and is expected to deliver $1.1bn in sales in 2031.
Clarivate also selected Otsuka’s voyxact, which is expected to launch in 2026 and generate $955m in 2031 sales. The first-in-class selective A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) inhibitor could serve as a “high-impact, disease-modifying entrant” in IgA nephropathy (IgAN), also known as Berger’s disease, the Clarivate team predicts.
The analytics team made another rare disease pick in GSK’s Exdensur, which was approved in December and is expected to generate sales of $510m in 2031. The monoclonal antibody, which targets IL-5, is the first approved ultra-long-acting biologic with a six-month dosing schedule for severe asthma, providing greater convenience over currently available IL-5 inhibitors that require monthly or bimonthly dosing.
Also on Clarivate’s list are two drugs that recently suffered untimely rejections from the FDA. Sanofi’s multiple sclerosis treatment tolebrutinib is a potential first-in-class, brain-penetrant Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor. But its prospects have been dampened by both efficacy and safety concerns raised in an FDA complete response letter (CRL).
Corcept Therapeutics’ Cushing syndrome drug relacorilant also was hit with an unexpected CRL from the US regulator last month, with the agency suggesting it did not have enough information from the company to make a benefit-risk assessment of the treatment. That medication is also due for an FDA decision in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer this July, Clarivate pointed out.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Lilly to seek approval for daily GLP-1 weight-loss, diabetes pill
FDA approves J&J’s non-surgical bladder cancer treatment