Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE: LLY) shares got a solid boost in the market Thursday morning as the broad markets were selling off. In fact this major pharmaceutical company has completely outperformed the market in 2015 alone, with shares up nearly 24% year to date. Part of this is attributable to the red-hot health care sector over the past year, but this is in part due to positive results from successful trials, like the company released Thursday morning.

The company announced positive top-line results from EMPA-REG Outcome. This is a long-term clinical trial investigating cardiovascular (CV) outcomes for Jardiance (empagliflozin) in more than 7,000 adults with type 2 diabetes at high risk for CV events. The trial met its primary endpoint and demonstrated superiority of Jardiance, when added to standard of care, in CV risk reduction.

Jardiance is a once-daily pill taken in the morning, used along with diet and exercise, to lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. It is not for people with type 1 diabetes or for people with diabetic ketoacidosis (increased ketones in the blood or urine).

Prof. Hans-Juergen Woerle, global vice president medicine, Boehringer Ingelheim said:

The cardiovascular risk reduction Jardiance demonstrated in the EMPA-REG Outcome trial is exciting and we look forward to sharing the full results. Approximately 50% of deaths in people with type 2 diabetes worldwide are caused by cardiovascular disease. Reducing cardiovascular risk is an essential component of diabetes management.

Shares of Eli Lilly were up nearly 5% to $87.88 early Thursday morning. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $92.06 and a 52-week trading range of $60.58 to $90.18.

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