-Eli Lilly raised its full-year profit and sales forecast on Thursday, betting on surging demand for its blockbuster weight-loss drug, Zepbound, as it targets new markets and looks to grab more share from Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.
However, shares of the U.S. drugmaker fell over 10% to $671.54 in premarket trading after data from its oral weight loss drug, orforglipron, disappointed investors.
Orforglipron helped patients lose 12.4% of their weight on average after 72 weeks, less than the 14.9% weight loss seen in a previous trial of Novo’s Wegovy over 68 weeks and below what analysts were expecting.
Lilly competes with Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk in the fast-growing market for weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1 agonists. These drugs are expected to bring in $150 billion in industry-wide revenue over the next decade.
Novo said on Wednesday that it expects continued competition from copycat versions of its blockbuster obesity drug this year and could face layoffs as it battles rising pressure from its main U.S. rival Lilly.
Weekly U.S. prescriptions were at 418,597 for Zepbound and at 281,725 for Wegovy for the week ended July 25, according to IQVIA data provided by analysts.
Lilly said its share of the U.S. market for incretins, the class of drugs to which diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss drug Zepbound belong, increased to 57% during the quarter.
Sales of Mounjaro came in at $5.20 billion for the second quarter, compared with analysts’ expectations of $4.74 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Zepbound clocked in sales of $3.38 billion for the quarter. Analysts were expecting sales of $2.95 billion.
The company now expects to earn $21.75 to $23 per share on an adjusted basis this year, compared with its previous forecast for a profit of $20.78 to $22.28 per share.
The U.S. drugmaker now expects annual sales of $60 billion to $62 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $58 billion and $61 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue of about $60 billion and profit of $21.74 per share for 2025.
