Feb 20 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) is betting big on

its experimental oral weight-loss drug even before reporting

data from its late-stage trial by recording nearly $550 million

in "pre-launch inventory" in its financial statements, a filing

showed on Wednesday.

The move is unusual as it comes more than a year before the

drug, orforglipron, is expected to be launched. Most drugmakers

include such inventories, or assets, in their financial

statements to show how much drug product has been manufactured

right before approval.

"There have been recent similar pre-launch inventory builds,

especially around COVID-19 vaccines, but with the launch not

coming until 2026, this earlier-than-normal inventory build is

certainly much larger than normal," said Kevin Gade, chief

operating officer at Bahl & Gaynor, which owns Lilly's shares.

This reflects Lilly's desire to be on the front foot by

launching the drug as early as possible to build a time

advantage in the market for tackling future competition, Gade

said.

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ( LLY )

currently dominate the market for weight-loss treatments with

their injectable drugs. Novo is studying the pill version of its

experimental drug, amycretin, while others including AstraZeneca ( AZN )

are also developing oral obesity treatments.

Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat, who highlighted the

inventory build in a research note on Thursday, said the

so-called capitalized inventory implied $10 billion in sales,

based on 2024 figures alone. Raffat added that the inventory

build-up will inevitably amplify.

In a mid-stage trial, the highest dose of orforglipron led to

14.7% weight loss after 36 weeks for people who were obese or

overweight. Lilly is expected to report late-stage data for the

drug by April.

Lilly also

said

on its post-earning conference call this month that it was

already building manufacturing capacity for the drug.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru, additional reporting

by Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Manas Mishra and Anil D'Silva)