Eli Lilly & Co. raised its 2023 outlook after diabetes drug and potential weight-loss treatment Mounjaro hit nearly $1 billion in sales in the quarter, widely surpassing expectations.
(Bloomberg) — Eli Lilly & Co. raised its 2023 outlook after diabetes drug and potential weight-loss treatment Mounjaro hit nearly $1 billion in sales in the quarter, widely surpassing expectations.Â
The company’s shares shot up as much as 10% in early trading. Before its earnings came out, Lilly’s stock got a boost after rival Novo Nordisk A/S reported its blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes in a study. Lilly is conducting a similar study for Mounjaro.
Lilly increased its adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $9.70 per share to $9.90 a share, up substantially from the $8.65 to $8.85 a share it had forecast in April. Sales for the year will be $33.4 billion to $33.9 billion, Lilly said, compared with its prior outlook of $31.2 billion to $31.7 billion.
Mounjaro, a self-administered shot, raked in $979.7 million in the second quarter, outpacing the $740.8 million expected by analysts. The company is expecting approval for use of the drug, which is on the market for diabetes already, for obesity within the coming months.
Sales of Lilly’s top drug, Trulicity, were $1.81 billion, missing analysts’ expectations for $2.05 billion. Of the company’s top five drugs, the diabetes treatment Trulicity was the only one that fell short of expectations. The company cited higher price discounting among the reasons for the decline.
Overall, Lilly’s revenue in the second quarter was $8.3 billion, beating the average estimate of $7.58 billion. Second-quarter earnings excluding some items were $2.11 a share.
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