Website: lilly.com/en-ca
Head office address (Canada): Exchange Tower, 130 King Street West, Suite 900, Toronto, ON M5X 1B1
Year established: 1876 (Eli Lilly and Company); 1938 (Lilly Canada)
Ownership structure: Canadian affiliate of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY)
Target market/client profile: patients, health care professionals, and group benefit plan sponsors
Number of professional staff: around 450 in Canada; over 50,700 globally (as at March 31, 2026)
Canadian office locations: Toronto (head office)
Eli Lilly is a global pharmaceutical company that develops and sells prescription medicines across several therapeutic areas. Its products span diabetes, obesity, cancer, and immunology, with many covered under employer drug benefit plans in Canada. The company reported US$65.2 billion in revenue for 2025 and spent about 20 percent of that on research and development.
Eli Lilly and Company started in Indianapolis in 1876 as a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm. In 1923, Lilly brought the world’s first commercially available insulin to market, based on University of Toronto research. That connection led to Eli Lilly Canada Inc., the firm’s Canadian affiliate, established in Toronto in 1938.
From that early diabetes work, Lilly Canada built its first manufacturing facility in Toronto in 1946 on Danforth Road. In 1982, the parent company introduced Humulin, a recombinant DNA-derived human insulin and the first human health-care product made through that technology.
Over the following decades, Eli Lilly Canada extended its focus to include cancer, immunology, and neurological conditions.
In 2020, Lilly invested US$100 million in AbCellera, a Vancouver-based antibody discovery company. The company followed that in 2022 with a collaboration with Entos Pharmaceuticals, an Edmonton-based biotech, valued at up to US$450 million.
Eli Lilly then made its largest Canadian move in 2023 by acquiring Toronto-based POINT Biopharma Global, a radiopharmaceutical developer, for US$1.4 billion. That purchase gave Lilly a radiopharmaceutical research and manufacturing base in Toronto.
Mounjaro, Lilly’s diabetes drug, received Health Canada approval in 2022, followed by Zepbound for weight management in May 2025. In December 2025, Lilly cut Canadian prices for both drugs by more than 20 percent.
In April 2026, Eli Lilly agreed to buy Ajax Therapeutics, a privately held blood cancer drug developer, for up to US$2.3 billion. The following month, the company reported US$19.8 billion in Q1 2026 revenue, of which Mounjaro and Zepbound generated US$12.9 billion.
Lilly Canada markets prescription drugs across several therapeutic areas, with many relevant to Canadian employer drug plan coverage:
Eli Lilly submitted orforglipron, an oral GLP-1 drug, for regulatory approval in more than 40 countries in 2025. The company launched the Lilly Employer Connect platform in the US in March 2026 to offer plan sponsors Zepbound at a flat US$449 monthly rate.
David Ricks has served as chair and CEO of Eli Lilly and Company since early 2017. He joined Lilly in 1996 and spent two decades in business development, marketing, international operations, and drug development before reaching the top role. Ricks studied at Purdue University before going on to complete an MBA at Indiana University.
Ricks leads Eli Lilly’s global executive team:
Eli Lilly’s board oversees business conduct, risk management, and regulatory compliance through several standing committees. The board’s ethics and compliance committee meets throughout the year, and the company requires annual ethics training for all employees.
Eli Lilly’s Canadian client base covers patients, health care professionals, and payers across the country. The firm also works with insurers and plan sponsors who manage prescription drug coverage for Canadian employees. Provincial formulary listings determine how broadly Lilly’s products reach patients in each province.
Eli Lilly supports its Canadian market through field-based teams that work with health care professionals across the country. The company has also invested approximately $100 million in Canadian clinical trials to build ties with research institutions and academic health centres. Those investments connect Lilly to patient organizations and provincial health authorities as well.
Eli Lilly Canada has earned workplace recognition in Canada and contributed to health sector initiatives across the country. The company’s drug pricing and pipeline activities have also drawn coverage from Benefits and Pensions Monitor (BPM) for their relevance to Canadian employer drug plans.
Eli Lilly Canada has directed more than $27.6 million toward community programs and health-related initiatives across the country. An additional $5.2 million went toward:
Globally, Lilly also runs an annual volunteer program that sends employees to serve communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
On the coverage front, BPM reported on Eli Lilly’s Canadian drug price cuts in December 2025 and their implications for employer drug plan costs. In March 2026, BPM also covered promising trial results for a new Lilly drug targeting blood sugar control and weight management. Those stories reflect Lilly’s growing relevance to plan sponsors and benefits professionals tracking drug cost developments in Canada.
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