Eli Lilly on Thursday reported first-quarter revenue and earnings that topped estimates as demand for its weight reduction and diabetes drugs soared, but lowered its full-year profit guidance because of charges related to a recent cancer treatment deal.
The pharmaceutical giant now expects its adjusted fiscal 2025 earnings to are available between $20.78 and $22.28 per share, down from previous guidance of $22.50 to $24 per share. Eli Lilly said the revision reflects a $1.57 billion deal charge recorded in the primary quarter, which is primarily related to its acquisition of a certain oral cancer drug from Scorpion Therapeutics.
The corporate maintained its fiscal 2025 sales guidance of $58 billion to $61 billion. Eli Lilly said the guidance reflects President Donald Trump’s existing tariffs as of May 1, but doesn’t include his planned levies on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S.
In an interview with CNBC, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the corporate and other drugmakers are already announcing investments in U.S. manufacturing, which is considered one of the Trump administration’s stated goals of the tariffs.
“I feel that truly the specter of tariffs is already bringing back critical supply chains into necessary industries, chips and pharma,” Ricks said. “So do we’d like to enact [tariffs?] I’m not so sure.”
He added that Eli Lilly desires to see permanently lower tax rates within the U.S., particularly 15% for domestic production. Ricks said lower taxes drove many drugmakers to fabricate in “low-tax islands like Ireland Singapore and in Switzerland, and that may come back if there’s an economic incentive.”
Eli Lilly’s blockbuster diabetes treatment Mounjaro topped expectations for the primary quarter, raking in $3.84 billion in revenue. That is up a whopping 113% from the identical period a yr ago.
The corporate’s weight reduction drug Zepbound also beat estimates, booking $2.31 billion in sales for the quarter. That greater than quadrupled the $517.4 million that the treatment brought in a yr ago, when it had just entered the U.S. market.
Analysts expected Mounjaro and Zepbound to generate $3.81 billion and $2.28 billion in sales, respectively, in keeping with estimates from StreetAccount.
Shares of Eli Lilly closed greater than 11% on Thursday. That got here after CVS Health on Thursday said its pharmacy profit manager would make Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy the popular weight reduction medication on its predominant formularies as a substitute of Zepbound.
Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the primary quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:Â
- Earnings per share: $3.34 adjusted vs. $3.02 expected
- Revenue: $12.73 billion vs. $12.67 billion expected
The corporate posted first-quarter revenue of $12.73 billion, up 45% from the identical period a yr ago.Â
Sales within the U.S. jumped 49% to $8.49 billion. Eli Lilly said that was driven by a 57% increase in volume – or the variety of prescriptions or units sold – for Zepbound and Mounjaro. That was partially offset by lower realized prices of the drugs, the corporate said.
The pharmaceutical giant booked net income of $2.76 billion, or $3.06 per share, for the primary quarter. That compares with net income of $2.24 billion, or $2.48 share, a yr earlier.Â
Excluding one-time items related to the worth of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly posted earnings of $3.34 per share for the primary quarter.
Demand within the U.S. has still far outpaced supply of Zepbound and Mounjaro during the last yr. Each so-called incretin treatments mimic certain gut hormones to tamp down an individual’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar.
The recognition of those injectable drugs has forced each Eli Lilly and its rival Novo Nordisk to speculate billions to ramp up manufacturing capability for his or her treatments.
The efforts look 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 Zepbound and Mounjaro — over. That call effectively bars many compounding pharmacies from marketing and selling cheaper, unapproved versions of tirzepatide.
