Eli Lilly today reported promising results for a new drug from a late-stage clinical trial which, if approved by the FDA, could become the first oral pill alternative to injectable weight-loss and diabetes drugs.

• Why it matters: It's become the biggest race in the weight-loss drug boom, a pill-based GLP-1, and so far it's proved elusive.

Zoom in: Lilly — which makes the diabetes drug Mounjaro and the weight-loss treatment Zepbound — reported positive Phase 3 trial results for the drug, called orforglipron.

• "The data are pretty much a best-case scenario, in our view — on weight loss, blood sugar control, tolerability, safety," Bank of America analyst Tim Anderson wrote today in a research note.

The big picture: Experts agree a pill version of GLP-1 drugs could blow open the door to more users.

• Besides the unpleasantness of needles, injectables need to be refrigerated, making them inconvenient for some.
• The impact: Eli Lilly's shares soared over 14% on the news.
• Shares of rival Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, went the other way, falling over 7%.

Reality check: There's no guarantee orforglipron makes it to market.

• Lilly said it expects to deliver further results this year and to request regulatory approval for the drug for weight management in 2025 and for diabetes treatment in 2026.

Go deeper

"I'm not happy with him. I let him know it, and if I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast, believe me."

Between the lines: Trump is ratcheting up political pressure on Powell to cut interest rates and hinting at possible intentions to remove the nation's top economic policymaker, a move that is legally dubious and unprecedented, Axios' Courtenay Brown writes.

• Powell has said he would not step down, if asked.

Go deeper

Google's dominance of the online advertising and ad-tech markets violates U.S. antitrust laws, a federal court ruled today.

Zoom in: The federal government and 17 states that brought the suit seek to force Google to sell its "network" ad business, which sells ads on other publishers' inventory, Axios' Scott Rosenberg and Sara Fischer write.

• That accounts for roughly 12% of Alphabet's overall business.

Between the lines: Forcing Google to give up its ad tech arm would be punitive, but wouldn't fundamentally change Google's business. The company still makes mountains of money selling ads alongside its own YouTube videos and search results.

The impact: The stock closed down only 1.4%.

What's next: The ruling means that the judge will move on to consider what sort of penalties or remedies to impose.

📺 Netflix shares jumped in after-hours trading on a Q1 earnings beat and positive outlook for the second quarter. (Axios)

🇨🇳 Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is visiting Beijing days after the U.S. signaled it would impose further restrictions on chip exports to China. Huang, who said he still views China as an important partner, held meetings with the likes of its vice premier and the founder of DeepSeek. (Financial Times)

✈️ Spirit Airlines is hiring former Sun Country Airlines executive Dave Davis as its new CEO. The budget airline is scrambling to get back on its feet after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late 2024. (WSJ)

Hermès plans to raise prices on items sold in the U.S. to make up for the cost of President Trump's tariffs.

Between the lines: The luxury goods maker will implement the price hikes on May 1, executive VP of finance Eric du Halgouët said on an earnings call.

• Financial communications director Carole Dupont-Pietri said the plan is to "fully" offset the cost increases.

State of play: It's not just luxury goods sellers.

• Low-cost Chinese retailers Temu and Shein confirmed that they will raise prices this month after the Trump administration moved to close a tariff loophole on low-value shipments.

💭 Nathan's thought bubble: The supply chain for consumer goods companies is highly international, making price increases nearly unavoidable if they want to preserve their profit margins.