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Lilly raises full-year earnings forecasts on surging demand for weight-loss drug
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Lilly raises full-year earnings forecasts on surging demand for weight-loss drug
Aug 7, 2025 4:58 AM

*

Quarterly sales of Mounjaro, Zepbound come in above

analyst

estimates

*

Shares decline over 10% as late-stage data for oral drug

fails

to impress

(Adds details on market share and drug sales in paragraphs

6-11)

By Bhanvi Satija and Patrick Wingrove

Aug 7 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) 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.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru and Patrick Wingrove

in New York; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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