The Eli Lilly & Co. logo at the corporate’s Digital Health Innovation Hub facility in Singapore, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.
Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Eli Lilly cut its revenue guidance on Tuesday because it said demand for its weight reduction and diabetes drugs wouldn’t meet its lofty expectations.
The drugmaker’s shares closed greater than 6% lower on Tuesday.
Eli Lilly said it now expects full-year 2024 revenue of about $45 billion. That is lower than the $45.4 billion to $46 billion the corporate anticipated in October. The brand new outlook would still mark a 32% jump in revenue from the prior yr.
Eli Lilly has been racing to satisfy soaring demand for its diabetes treatment Mounjaro and obesity drug Zepbound, investing billions to ramp up its manufacturing capability of the corporate’s booming so-called incretin drugs. The efforts seem like paying off: The Food and Drug Administration in December reaffirmed its decision to declare the U.S. shortage of tirzepatide — the energetic ingredient in each drugs — over.
In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the corporate has “tons of supply coming online” and “that type of growth will likely proceed.”
He also noted that the corporate will add more manufacturing capability and expects to supply at the very least 60% more sellable doses of its incretin drugs in the primary half of the yr compared with the identical period in 2024.
For the fourth quarter, Eli Lilly expects $13.5 billion in revenue. The full 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, in accordance with analysts surveyed by LSEG.
The outlook cut comes as Eli Lilly competes with Novo Nordisk and other, smaller rivals for share of the exploding weight reduction and diabetes drug market. Eli Lilly is developing an obesity pill that may be more convenient for patients and easier to fabricate, and Ricks expects it to be approved as soon as early next yr.
“While the U.S. incretin market grew 45% in comparison with the identical quarter last yr, our previous guidance had anticipated even faster acceleration of growth for the quarter. That, along with lower-than-expected channel inventory at year-end, contributed to our Q4 results,” Ricks said in a press release.
The drugmaker also said it expects sales of $58 billion to $61 billion in fiscal 2025.
Eli Lilly is predicted to report full quarterly results on Feb. 6.
