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Eli Lilly & Co. logo. at the Digital Health Innovation Hub in Singapore on Thursday 14 November 2024.
Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Eli Lilly on Tuesday cut its revenue forecast as demand for weight loss and diabetes drugs fell short of high expectations.
Shares of the drug maker fell more than 7% in mid-day trading on Tuesday.
Eli Lilly said it expects full-year 2024 revenue of about $45 billion. That’s below the $45.4 billion to $46 billion the company is worth expected in October. The new outlook still represents a 32% year-over-year jump in revenue.
Eli Lilly has sought to meet surging demand for diabetes drug Mounjaro and obesity drug Zepbound by investing billions in expanding the company’s production capacity for so-called incretins. The effort appears to be paying off: The Food and Drug Administration in December confirmed his decision to say that the shortage of tirezapatide—the active ingredient in both drugs—has ended in the United States.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the company has “tons of supply coming into the network” and “that growth is likely to continue.”
He also noted that the company will increase production capacity and expects to produce at least 60% more marketable doses of its incretin drugs in the first half of 2024 compared to the same period in 2024.
Eli Lilly expects $13.5 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter. The total includes about $3.5 billion for Mounjaro and $1.9 billion for Zepbound.
Wall Street had expected fourth-quarter and full-year revenue of $13.94 billion and $45.49 billion, respectively, according to analysts polled by LSEG.
Downsizing comes Eli Lilly’s competition Nova Nordisk and other, smaller competitors for a share of the rapidly growing market for weight loss and diabetes drugs. Eli Lilly is developing an obesity pill that would be more convenient for patients and easier to manufacture Ricks expects that to be approved as early as next year.
“While the US incretin market grew 45% year-over-year, our previous guidance was for an even faster acceleration in the quarter. This, in addition to lower-than-expected year-end channel inventory, contributed to our Q4 results,” Ricks said in a statement.
The drugmaker also said it expects sales of $58 billion to $61 billion in fiscal 2025.
Eli Lilly is expected to report full quarterly results on February 6.
