By Peter Loftus
Boundless demand for weight-loss and diabetes drugs fueled a sharp rise in Eli Lilly’s sales and profits–and the drugmaker still can’t make enough.
Fourth-quarter sales of Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro ( is also used off-label for weight loss–surged to $2.2 billion from $279 million a year earlier. The drug ( is on pace to soon become Lilly’s top-selling product, two years after its introduction. Lilly shares jumped 5% in pre-market trading Tuesday.
Late last year Lilly introduced Zepbound ( which has the same ingredients as Mounjaro ( and is approved specifically for chronic weight management. In just a few weeks on the market in the fourth quarter, sales were $175.8 million.
Like its rival Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly is trying to expand its manufacturing capacity for these types of drugs. But Lilly said Tuesday it has experienced intermittent delays fulfilling orders for Mounjaro and an older diabetes drug, Trulicity, and sees that continuing.
Demand for these drugs is likely to outpace supply throughout 2024, Lilly said.
The critical need to boost output of this class of medications was the driving force behind Novo Holdings’ deal Monday to acquire contract manufacturer Catalent ( for $16.5 billion. Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, will flip three of Catalent’s plants to Novo Nordisk to help boost output of Ozempic and Wegovy.