Eli Lilly on Thursday reported second-quarter revenue and earnings that beat past expectations and raised its full-year revenue outlook by $3 billion as sales of blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss injection Zepbound spike.
Shares of Eli Lilly jumped more than 10% in premarket trading Thursday.
The drugmaker now expects full-year earnings of $16.10 to $16.60, up from its previous guidance of $13.50 to $14 per share.
The company also expects revenue for the coming year to be between $45.4 billion and $46.6 billion, an increase of $3 billion at both ends of the range.
Eli Lilly said the increase in guidance was primarily driven by the strong performance of Mounjaro and Zepbound and included due to “better clarity” on the company’s production expansion and plans to launch Mounjaro outside the US The company said it had several supply-related milestones during the quarter, without providing specifics.
Demand has outstripped the supply of incretin drugs such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, which mimic hormones produced in the gut to suppress appetite and regulate blood sugar. That has forced Eli Lilly and rival Novo Nordisk to invest heavily in boosting manufacturing.
But Eli Lilly’s supply woes may be easing. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration’s drug database said all doses of Zepbound and Mounjaro were available in the US after a shortage.
“We’re just seeing incredible demand, and we’re not trying very hard to market this drug,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told CNBC in an interview. “What you’re seeing is just organic consumer demand here because we’ve shipped more products, because we’ve brought more online purchases, in the United States.”
Ricks said the company has built six factories, some of which have been ramped up, and hired thousands of workers to increase production. The company expects incretin drug production in the second half of 2024 to be 50% higher than in the same period last year, he said.
“We’re walking in 2025,” he said. Ricks added that Eli Lilly is still developing more convenient weight loss pills, which could help the company meet the high demand.
Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the second quarter compared to what Wall Street expected, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $3.92 adjusted vs $2.60 expected
- result: $11.30 billion vs $9.92 billion expected
The pharmaceutical giant reported net income of $2.97 billion, or $3.28 per share, for the second quarter. That compares with a profit of $1.76 billion, or $1.95 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items related to the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly reported earnings of $3.92 per share for the second quarter of 2024.
The company reported second-quarter revenue of $11.30 billion, up 36% from the same period a year ago.
Eli Lilly said sales were driven by higher demand for Mounjaro and Zepbound as production increased supply in the US.
This is Zepbound’s second quarter in the US market after receiving approval from regulators in November. Weekly injections earned $1.24 billion in sales for the period, which was higher than the $922.2 million analysts were expecting, according to StreetAccount.
Meanwhile, Mounjaro earned $3.09 billion in the second quarter, more than tripling the sales it booked in the previous period. Analysts were expecting sales of $2.39 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Mounjaro prices were higher in the US during the second quarter, which was partly due to greater access to the drug and reduced use of the savings card program compared to the previous period.
But the company said the savings card should have a “minimal effect” on price comparisons realized in the second half of the year because the $25 monthly coupon for uninsured patients for Mounjaro expires in June.
Ricks said Eli Lilly’s incretin drug prices were “fairly stable” during the second quarter.
Contrast that with Novo Nordisk, which reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter sales of weight-loss drug Wegovy and diabetes injection Ozempic on Wednesday partly due to price pressures.
Shares of Eli Lilly are up more than 30% this year after jumping nearly 60% in 2023 on strong demand for the company’s weight-loss and diabetes drugs — and growing investor interest in its potential as a treatment for other health conditions. Its popularity is despite high monthly costs, inconsistent insurance coverage and intermittent supply shortages.
With a market capitalization of more than $730 billion, Eli Lilly is the largest pharmaceutical company in the US.
