Trades of Eli Lilly shares were made on Trump’s behalf as drugmaker benefitted from his policies

Hundreds of thousands of dollars was invested in Eli Lilly on Donald Trump’s behalf earlier this year, according to financial disclosures, as the US drugmaker benefited from his administration’s bid to expand access to blockbuster obesity treatments.

Ethics filings revealed several thousand trades on the US president’s behalf tied to stocks and bonds in the first quarter of 2026, with a cumulative ​value of between $220m and around $750m.

The forms, released last week, included securities linked to some of the largest companies in the US, including Apple, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Nvidia.

Trump has built strong ties with Corporate America since his return to office in January 2025, and just last week took a string of CEOs – including those of Apple, Boeing, Goldman Sachs, Nvidia – with him on a state visit to China.

The Trump Organization has denied the president “plays any role” in selecting the stocks in his investment portfolio.

Among the trades made on Trump’s behalf were seven acquisitions of shares in Eli Lilly worth up to $680,000 between 6 January and the end of March, while federal agencies rolled out some initiatives that benefited the drugmakers’s weight-loss drugs.

KFF Health News, which highlighted the transactions, noted that during and just after the same time period several US government actions under Trump benefited Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 business.

This includes a pilot program in which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will expand access to GLP-1 medications, including Lilly’s Foundayo and Zepbound KwikPen, for Medicare patients.

And in February, KFF Health News noted, the administration unveiled TrumpRx: its direct-to-consumer drug sales website, aimed at lowering prescription drug costs.

According to a White House fact sheet, for the first few months TrumpRx featured medications made by the first five manufacturers that struck pricing deals with the administration – including Eli Lilly – and pointed patients to LillyDirect, the drug company’s telemedicine service. (The White House announced earlier this week, and said it will now feature more than 600 generic medications).