Trump bought – Ethics disclosures show President Donald Trump made stock purchases of Eli Lilly in early 2026 while agencies he oversees advanced Medicare and FDA actions aimed at boosting access to GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. The overlap has drawn concern from legal ethics exp
On May 14, federal ethics disclosures landed with a specific kind of timing: the paperwork detailed stock and bond trades made on President Donald Trump’s behalf from January through March 2026—and among them, repeated purchases of Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of blockbuster obesity drugs.
The concern isn’t just that a president holds stock in a major healthcare company. It’s that the disclosed Lilly buying lines up with multiple government decisions that. over the same period. moved closer to broader coverage and faster approvals for GLP-1 treatments—an arena where Eli Lilly’s business stands to benefit.
The disclosed trades, which bear Trump’s signature, include stock purchases made through the end of March 2026. They are presented in ranges rather than exact dollar amounts. For Lilly, the disclosures show seven purchases of the company’s stock, with the first occurring on Jan. 6.
Eli Lilly has declined to comment. West Pharmaceutical Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson at the Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment and referred KFF Health News to the White House. A White House spokesperson referred questions to the Trump Organization—described as the holding company for most of the president’s businesses—which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ethics disclosures also show extensive trades across the economy, including investments in companies such as Microsoft and Nvidia, aerospace firm Boeing, and consumer and restaurant names including Target and Chipotle.
In healthcare, however, the sequencing around Lilly stands out.
One major push came from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. which proposed a pilot program described as a “bridge” that could eventually lead to permanent reimbursement. Under the proposed approach, Medicare patients would pay $50 a month for GLP-1 drugs. The deadline for drug manufacturers to submit applications indicating interest in participating was Jan. 8.
Lilly has since been named as a participating manufacturer in the program and called it “a significant milestone.”
Trump’s publicly disclosed Lilly buying continued after that CMS step. One purchase on Feb. 10 involved West Pharmaceutical Services stock valued between $250,000 and $500,000. West manufactures injectable drug devices. and it credited growth in its GLP-1 business with driving increased revenue in its most recent quarter.
The disclosures do not spell out whether Trump directed any of the trades himself. Four of the Lilly stock purchases are marked “unsolicited,” though the Office for Government Ethics did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the use of that term.
Trump’s assets are held in a trust run by his children. Trump Organization spokespeople have said the president and his children do not play a role in “selecting, directing, or approving” specific investments.
Eric Trump, the president’s son and a Trump Organization executive, denied that any family member picked individual securities. On May 15 on X. he wrote: “To suggest that individual stocks are being bought or sold. at the discretion of any member of the Trump family. would be a lie and blatantly false.”.
He also claimed that index funds account for the investments. The disclosures themselves record purchases of both funds and individual stocks.
Lilly’s financial outlook is a backdrop to the controversy over access and coverage. The company finished 2025 with $65 billion in revenue. up $20 billion from the year before. and GLP-1 drugs accounted for a substantial portion of that total. Early in 2026, Lilly projected another surge above $80 billion in revenue.
Analysts at Citi called the projection “stunning.” Analysts at TD Cowen said the Medicare and Medicaid market would be critical to meeting that kind of outlook. They pointed to the view that “Guidance anticipates favorable impact from Medicare coverage of obesity medications by 7/1/26.”
Medicare historically has not covered obesity drugs. In a May 2025 open letter, Lilly said: “This isn’t about just one medicine, formulary, or insurance plan. It’s about a system that limits patients’ and health care providers’ ability to choose an obesity management treatment plan that is best for them.”.
The CMS pilot program at the center of the coverage conversation is called BALANCE. It is aimed at helping Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries improve their health. In a KFF poll conducted last fall, 12% of U.S. adults reported currently using GLP-1s. Among those who had used GLP-1s, 56% said the medications were hard to afford.
Ethics experts have focused on the way the stock disclosures intersect with the government actions.
Kathleen Clark, a legal ethicist at Washington University in St. Louis, said the appearance of conflict is damaging to public confidence. “A president who buys or sells the stock of a company whose value is affected by his administration’s actions undermines the public’s trust in two ways. ” Clark said. First, she said, the public should believe government actions are driven by the common good, not personal enrichment. Second, she said the public should believe government decisions aren’t influenced by inside information.
Clark added that a ban on stock trading by the president would require an act of Congress, a prospect that some lawmakers have resisted. Members of Congress, she noted, are also allowed to buy and sell stocks.
The administration’s moves to expand GLP-1 access were not limited to Medicare pilots. Through the first few months of the year, Trump’s White House and HHS also boosted GLP-1s.
In February, the government unveiled TrumpRx, a web portal directing patients to lower-price versions of some drugs. The site offered Zepbound for as low as $299 a month and routed patients to LillyDirect. the drug company’s telemedicine service for prescribing the drug. Lilly executives have not commented on TrumpRx specifically, but they have promoted LillyDirect. Lilly’s 2025 annual filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission said LillyDirect was a “growing portion of our business.”.
The FDA also intensified enforcement against “compounded” GLP-1s in February—drugs made by pharmacies that critics have argued can be unsafe alternatives to branded products. The April decision on Eli Lilly’s new weight-loss medication came soon after.
In April, the FDA approved Lilly’s Foundayo weight-loss pill under its Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program. The program was launched by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who promised to approve high-priority drugs in record time. Foundayo was approved in 50 days after filing.
Makary said in an April news release: “This approval demonstrates what the FDA can achieve when we eliminate delays and prioritize fast and thorough work from the agency and industry partners.” Makary stepped down last week.
Even with the approval, not every action was favorable. The FDA asked Lilly to provide additional safety data regarding liver toxicity in Foundayo. Analysts do not appear particularly troubled. Lilly has told news outlets that no negative safety signals have been observed.
Taken together. the disclosures and the policy timeline create a sequence that is hard to ignore: Trump’s Lilly purchases begin on Jan. 6, run through the end of March, and unfold as CMS proposes a Medicare reimbursement pilot with a Jan. 8 manufacturer application deadline. as TrumpRx routes patients toward LillyDirect and lists Zepbound at $299 a month. and as the FDA moves Foundayo through its fast-track voucher program—after also pressing for more liver-toxicity data.
Donald Trump Eli Lilly GLP-1 Medicare reimbursement BALANCE pilot TrumpRx FDA Foundayo LillyDirect ethics disclosures stock trades Marty Makary