April 22 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) said on Monday

that it will acquire a manufacturing facility from Nexus

Pharmaceuticals to produce injectable medicines.

Lilly expects production at the facility based in Pleasant

Prairie, Wisconsin, to begin at the end of 2025.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Soaring demand for GLP-1 agonists, a class of highly

effective diabetes and obesity drugs which suppress appetite and

promote a feeling of fullness, has led to constrained supply for

drugmakers such as Lilly and Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk

.

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's website

showed that due to increased demand, most doses of Lilly's

diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss drug Zepbound would be in

limited supply through the second quarter of this year.

Larger doses of injectable medicines Mounjaro and Zepbound,

including the 5 milligrams (mg), 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, and 15

mg versions, had limited availability, according to the FDA

website. The 2.5-milligram dose for the treatments was listed as

available.

Lilly had said it anticipates limited availability in the

near term but had signaled that investments in manufacturing and

supply capacity would progressively increase production of its

medicines throughout 2024 and beyond.

BY THE NUMBERS

Lilly

had reported

Mounjaro sales at $4.83 billion in 2023, while Zepbound,

which received U.S. approval in November, brought in sales of

$175.8 million in the first few weeks of its launch.

Analysts expect Mounjaro's 2024 sales to be at $9.9 billion,

according to LSEG data.