Lilly – Our Story Insight

Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks talks Medicare coverage of obesity pills

admin — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 05:19:00 +0000

Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks on Friday said upcoming Medicare coverage of obesity drugs could be a major catalyst for the rollout of the company’s closely watched experimental weight loss pill, orforglipron.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC, Ricks said Lilly expects to have Medicare coverage for the treatment “immediately following that launch, and that will change the game a bit too.”

He said that’s because many patients are currently paying in cash for competitor Novo Nordisk‘s GLP-1 pill for obesity. That launched earlier this month and is off to a strong start, even with spotty insurance coverage.

Ricks said he noticed that nearly all of the early adopters of Novo’s Wegovy pill are new to GLP-1 treatments rather than users of existing injections, so “it’s expansive, it’s reaching more patients and that’s great.”

He added that Lilly is confident in its pill’s ability to compete and is preparing for a “full launch” in the second quarter. The rollout is set to coincide with Medicare starting to cover obesity medicines for the first time later this year under drug pricing deals Lilly and Novo struck with President Donald Trump in November.

Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks speaks during a press conference in Houston, Sept. 23, 2025.

Antranik Tavitian | Reuters

That government coverage will bring the price point of pills even lower in the second half of the year, Ricks said. Certain Medicare patients will pay a copay of $50 per month for all approved uses of injectable and oral GLP-1 drugs, including diabetes and obesity treatment.

“That opens up things pretty wide, and we’ll see where we can go from there,” Ricks said.

Medicare coverage of obesity treatments is a long-awaited move that some health experts say could broaden the market for the medicines and spur more private insurers to cover them. Ricks estimates that 20 million to 30 million Medicare beneficiaries who are suffering from obesity and related health conditions could be eligible for GLP-1 treatments, so coverage is a “big multiplier on the eligible pool.”

Ricks acknowledged that under the drug pricing deal, there will be “a step down in pricing” early this year. The agreements involve drugmakers voluntarily offering their medications for less, including selling their existing treatments to Medicaid patients at the lowest prices abroad, and guaranteeing that so-called most-favored nation pricing for new medicines.

But Ricks said volume growth of Lilly’s drugs “will ramp on the back half of the year.’

“We think that’s a positive balance for us, but time will tell,” he said, adding that it will be based on uptake of the treatments among Medicare patients and the company’s share of that adoption.

Lilly will share more details on the financial impact of the deal when it posts its fourth-quarter earnings and 2026 guidance next week, he said.

The price agreements include commitments to launch drugs at discounted cash-pay prices on Trump’s direct-to-consumer platform, TrumpRx. That site, which was expected to launch in January, is not yet live.

Ricks said Lilly was the first drugmaker to sell obesity treatments directly to patients through the company’s platform, LillyDirect, and TrumpRx is “taking that and expanding it across the industry” to other medicines.

“We’re all for that,” he said.

The post Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks talks Medicare coverage of obesity pills appeared first on Our Story Insight.

2026 is the year of obesity pills from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly

admin — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 03:57:59 +0000

The booming GLP-1 space was built on weekly injections. In 2026, new obesity pills will push the market into its next chapter.

Patients are already getting their hands on the first GLP-1 pill for obesity from Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk — a once-daily drug that shares the same brand name as its popular injection Wegovy. A GLP-1 pill from the company’s chief rival Eli Lilly isn’t far behind, with a U.S. approval expected within months.

For some people, pills may serve as a more convenient — and potentially cheaper — alternative to today’s blockbuster injections. The cash prices of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill range from $149 to $299 per month, depending on the dose, which is slightly less than the newly lowered cash prices of injections.

While the pills aren’t expected to bring more weight loss than weekly shots, based on separate clinical trials, some health experts say expanding the range of treatments could still be a major win for patients.

Pills could attract new patients to seek obesity treatment for the first time, expanding the broader weight loss and diabetes drug market and potentially boosting sales for Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. The new users may include people who are afraid of needles, as well as patients who could benefit from existing injections but don’t view their condition as severe enough to warrant a weekly shot.

“I think that there are a lot of people out there who have never tried these GLP-1 drugs and are maybe waiting for the pills to come out,” said Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, medical director of the UC San Diego Health Center for Advanced Weight Management. “It’s kind of a natural preference for some people and even some prescribers.”

“Secondly, if you have to pay out of pocket, the pills are going to be a bit less expensive than the injections, so that’s another reason,” he said.

The logo of pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is displayed in front of its offices in Bagsvaerd, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark, Nov. 24, 2025.

Tom Little | Reuters

It’s unclear exactly how many people are currently using GLP-1s in the U.S., especially for obesity. But around 1 in 8 adults said they were taking a GLP-1 drug to lose weight or treat another chronic condition as of November, according to a poll from health policy research organization KFF.

Now, pills are emerging as the next battleground for Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which established the GLP-1 space that some analysts say could be worth almost $100 billion by the 2030s. In August, Goldman Sachs analysts forecast that pills could capture roughly 24% — or about $22 billion — of the global weight-loss drug market by 2030.

Here’s how obesity pills could reshape the space.

Pills could expand the market

Oral drugs may pull new patients into the obesity treatment market.

“I believe that this will quite a bit expand the market,” Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar told CNBC in late December. “We know from our own family members and circles of friends that there are many people who still would not rather take an injection … for this group of people, having a pill option is important.”

Pills could prompt some people to start obesity treatment because “they think it’s somehow more acceptable or approachable” than an injection, said Dr. Caroline Apovian, co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

That doesn’t mean a pill will be the best fit for everyone. But once patients enter the health-care system for treatment, doctors can guide them through all options – whether that’s an injection, metabolic surgery, or structured diet and exercise programs, Apovian said.

UCSD’s Grunvald said uptake of obesity pills is likely to be driven by primary care physicians, who treat the majority of eligible patients and may be more comfortable prescribing an oral drug.

Grunvald said obesity medicine specialists, who care for only about 5% to 10% of eligible patients, are more likely to continue favoring injections, which appear more effective than pills based on separate clinical trials.

Deborah, a 53-year-old librarian in St. Louis, Missouri, said she is curious about the new Wegovy pill in part because of its convenience factor. She declined to provide her last name due to concerns about stigma associated with GLP-1s.

Deborah said she would consider an oral GLP-1 because she is already accustomed to taking pills for other prescriptions. She said an oral drug would also bring other benefits, like making travel easier because it won’t require refrigeration, like injections do.

She said she is also interested in the potentially lower costs of pills. Deborah has been taking weekly injections of Wegovy since June, and was paying $449 per month in cash before Novo Nordisk lowered that price to $349 per month.

Pills cost slightly less

Cost could be a factor for other patients, too.

Novo Nordisk’s pill appears to have among the lowest cash prices in the market, at $149 per month for the starting dose and $299 per month for the two highest doses. Eli Lilly’s rival pill is expected to have similar pricing for cash-paying patients.

Those users will also be able to access the starting dose of both pills for $149 per month through President Donald Trump’s direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx, under a deal both companies struck with his administration in November.

Obesity injections have long been hard for patients to get, due in part to spotty insurance coverage and list prices of roughly $1,000 per month. Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have moved to address those concerns by cutting cash prices for their injectable drugs to less than half that amount.

A combination image shows an injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, and boxes of Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk.

Hollie Adams | Reuters

Eli Lilly in December said the highest doses of single-dose vials of Zepbound will cost $449 per month for cash-paying patients, while Novo Nordisk in November said nearly all doses of Wegovy will cost $349 per month in cash.

Those prices are closer to the cost of Novo Nordisk’s pill, which may still be expensive for some. But Grunvald said the roughly $150 monthly difference between the highest doses of Zepbound and Novo’s pill “could be a big difference for many people” willing to pay out of pocket.

Patients with insurance coverage for Novo Nordisk’s oral drug can pay as little as $25 per month for the treatment. But pills likely won’t move the needle to boost insurance coverage of GLP-1s for obesity in the U.S.

The direct-to-consumer cash prices of Novo Nordisk’s oral drug are likely “significantly less” than what employers and middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers would pay to cover the drugs, said John Crable, senior vice president of Corporate Synergies, an insurance and employee benefits brokerage and consultancy.

Crable said it is unclear how much the pill will ultimately cost payers such as employers since those prices are not publicly disclosed. But if they mirror injection costs — often higher than $1,000 per month — employers may be reluctant to add the drug to their formularies, he said.

Some companies that already offer coverage of obesity injections could add the pills this year. But Crable said some employers have actually dropped coverage of GLP-1s for obesity in 2026 due to their high costs.

“I don’t see employers being highly motivated to add what is probably going to be another high volume, very high cost drug to their formulary when the direct-to-consumer pricing for it is so much cheaper,” Crable said.

Injections are here to stay

Drugmakers have tried to make a case that patients using injections can switch easily to oral drugs. Eli Lilly in December released data showing that patients who initially took Wegovy or Zepbound shots maintained the majority of their weight loss after switching to the company’s pill.

But Apovian, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said cost would be the only real reason to move patients who are doing well on injections to a pill.

“If the [cash price] is similar, I always prefer the injectables because I believe that the weight loss is better and the side effects are less,” she said.

Apovian said she wants to see real-world data on how pills perform compared with injections, but separate late-stage trials already offer some clues.

Zepbound has shown average weight loss of more than 20% in late-stage studies. That’s higher than results seen with both the Wegovy injection and pill as well as Eli Lilly’s oral drug in separate trials.

In those same studies, about 7% of patients or less stopped treatment due to side effects from the Zepbound and Wegovy injections.

The Wegovy pill showed similar discontinuation rates, while about 10.3% of patients taking the highest dose of Eli Lilly’s oral drug stopped treatment because of side effects.

Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger said patients with obesity who need to lose a larger percentage of their body weight will likely stick with injections, unless they have a fear of needles.

Pills, he said, could primarily attract new patients who are overweight or mildly obese and want to achieve only “modest” weight loss.

Some patients currently using weekly injections may try pills, Risinger added, though not all will find a daily oral option more convenient.

That includes Karen Galante, 42, of Horsham, Pennsylvania, who is taking a compounded version of semaglutide – the active ingredient in Wegovy – which she said is priced similarly to Novo Nordisk’s new pill.

Galante said she does not plan to switch.

“It’s hard enough for me to remember to take my vitamins every day,” she said. “I like the set-it-and-forget-it of taking one shot a week.”

More than enough room for Novo, Lilly

Risinger said he expects both pills from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to “take off like a rocket” this year.

He noted that uptake will be greater for the Wegovy pill initially since Eli Lilly’s drug, orforglipron, is likely still months away from entering the market.

But Risinger said he believes Eli Lilly’s pill will ultimately generate higher sales because patients could consider it more convenient.

Eli Lilly’s orforglipron is a small-molecule drug that is absorbed more easily in the body and doesn’t require dietary restrictions like Novo Nordisk’s pill, which is a peptide medication. Patients are supposed to drink no more than four ounces of water with the Wegovy pill and must wait 30 minutes before eating or drinking anything else each day.

But Novo Nordisk’s CEO Doustdar has argued that those dietary requirements won’t hinder uptake. He told CNBC in December it has not been an issue for the more than a million people who are taking the lower-dose version of the pill for diabetes, marketed as Rybelsus, which entered the market in 2019.

“Simply sip and go, and you’re going to be fine,” Doustdar said. “These people are waking up in the morning and taking their pill with a glass of water, and then they do their normal daily routine half an hour later and move on with their life.”

He also called the company’s drug the “most efficacious pill,” saying that no other products in development have been able to show its same level of weight loss in a late-stage trial.

The highest dose of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill helped patients lose up to 16.6% of their weight on average at 64 weeks in one late-stage study. That’s comparable to the injectable form of the drug.

There are no head-to-head studies directly comparing that pill with Eli Lilly’s. In one of Eli Lilly’s late-stage trials, the highest dose of its pill helped patients lose 12.4% of their body weight on average at 72 weeks.

Despite that difference in efficacy, Risinger said the two pills are viewed as promoting roughly similar levels of weight loss. Some patients may also not need to take the highest dose of either pill, he added.

In an August note, Goldman analysts said they expect Eli Lilly’s pill to have a 60% share — or roughly $13.6 billion — of the daily oral segment of the market in 2030. They expect Novo Nordisk’s oral semaglutide to have a 21% share — or around $4 billion — of that segment. The analysts said they expect the remaining 19% slice to go to other emerging pills.

More competitors emerge

Other drugmakers are racing to bring their own oral options to the market, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Structure Therapeutics and Viking Therapeutics.

Risinger highlighted Structure’s daily oral GLP-1, which will enter phase three trials later this year. Shares of Structure soared more than 100% on Dec. 9 after it released midstage data showing that its pill, aleniglipron, helped patients with obesity lose more than 11% of their weight at 36 weeks, when adjusted for placebo.

Additional trial data showed that a higher dose of the pill could deliver greater efficacy – more than 15% weight loss – surpassing the results seen with the highest dose of Eli Lilly’s orforglipron. Still, the tolerability data, or how well patients tolerated Structure’s treatment, appeared to be worse than that of Eli Lilly’s pill.

In a release at the time, Structure CEO Raymond Stevens said the pill could be “potentially best-in-class” for an oral small-molecule GLP-1.

Risinger said he expects that pill and another oral GLP-1 from AstraZeneca could launch as soon as late 2028.

He said potential pills that are taken weekly, as opposed to daily, and have “compelling profiles could tilt the balance more towards orals” in the market.

Risinger pointed to privately held Verdiva Bio, which is developing several oral peptide treatments designed to be taken once a week. That company has an ongoing phase two trial on an oral GLP-1.

The post 2026 is the year of obesity pills from Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Eli Lilly to build $6 billion Alabama manufacturing plant

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:45:08 +0000

Eli Lilly CEO David A. Ricks speaks at a press conference at Generation Park in Houston, Monday, Sept. 23, 2025. The company announced plans for a $6.5 billion biomanufacturing plant in north Houston. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Raquel Natalicchio | Houston Chronicle | Getty Images

Eli Lilly on Tuesday said it will spend $6 billion to build a manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama, to help boost production of its closely watched experimental obesity pill and other drugs.

It is the third facility in a string of new planned U.S. investments by the drugmaker. Eli Lilly announced in February that it would spend at least $27 billion to build four new domestic manufacturing plants, adding to $23 billion in previous investments since 2020.

The company said it expects construction of the Alabama plant to start in 2026 and for it to be completed in 2032.

“Today’s investment continues the onshoring of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production, strengthening supply chain resilience and reliable access to medicines for patients in the U.S.,” said Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks in a release.

That added production capacity for Eli Lilly’s obesity pill, orforglipron, is crucial as the company races to file for its approval and tries to maintain its dominance in the booming market for GLP-1s. The company and its chief rival, Novo Nordisk, faced supply shortages for their existing weekly injections after demand skyrocketed in the U.S. in recent years, though they have managed to alleviate those issues.

Eli Lily’s pill in November won a priority review voucher from the Food and Drug Administration, which will significantly speed up the regulator’s assessment of the drug to potentially a few months.

Drugmakers have been scrambling to boost their production in the U.S. after threats by President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. But concerns about those potential tariffs have eased following recent drug pricing deals with Trump that exempt companies from the levies.

Eli Lilly said the Alabama site will bring 450 jobs to the area, including engineers, scientists, operations personnel and lab technicians, as well as 3,000 construction jobs.

The post Eli Lilly to build $6 billion Alabama manufacturing plant appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Eli Lilly cuts cash prices of Zepbound weight loss drug vials

admin — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 18:55:56 +0000

The Eli Lilly logo appears on the company’s office in San Diego, California, U.S., Nov. 21, 2025.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Eli Lilly on Monday said it is lowering the cash prices of single-dose vials of its blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound on its direct-to-consumer platform, LillyDirect, building on efforts by the company and the Trump administration to make the medicine more accessible.

The announcement also comes weeks after chief rival Novo Nordisk unveiled additional discounts on the cash prices of its obesity and diabetes drugs.

Starting Monday, cash-paying patients with a valid prescription can get the starting dose of Zepbound vials for as low as $299 per month on LillyDirect, down from a previous price of $349 per month. They can also access the next dose, 5 milligrams, for $399 per month and all other doses for $449 per month, down from $499 per month across those sizes.

Zepbound carries a list price of roughly $1,086 per month. That price point, and spotty insurance coverage for weight loss drugs in the U.S., have been significant barriers to access for some patients.

Eli Lilly’s announcement comes just weeks after President Donald Trump inked deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to make their GLP-1 drugs easier for Americans to get and afford. The agreements will cut the prices the government pays for the drugs, introduce Medicare coverage of obesity drugs for the first time for certain patients and offer discounted medicines on the government’s new direct-to-consumer website launching in January, TrumpRx.

But Eli Lilly’s deal with Trump centers around lowering the prices of a different form of Zepbound – a multi-dose pen – after it wins Food and Drug Administration approval.

That means Eli Lilly’s Monday announcement around cutting prices on the existing single-dose vials could allow more patients to get discounted treatments more quickly.

“We will keep working to provide more options — expanding choices for delivery devices and creating new pathways for access — so more people can get the medicines they need,” said Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA and global customer capabilities, in a statement.

With single-dose vials, patients need to use a syringe and needle to draw up the medicine and inject it into themselves. Eli Lilly first introduced that form of Zepbound in August 2024.

It’s unclear how many patients are currently using single-dose vials of Zepbound. But Eli Lilly previously said that direct-to-consumer sales now account for more than a third of new prescriptions of Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk earlier this month lowered the price of its obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic for existing cash-paying patients to $349 per month from $499 per month. That excludes the highest dose of Ozempic.

The company also launched a temporary introductory offer, which will allow new cash-paying patients to access the two lowest doses of Wegovy and Ozempic for $199 per month for the first two months of treatment.

The post Eli Lilly cuts cash prices of Zepbound weight loss drug vials appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Trump deals with Lilly, Novo Nordisk could broaden obesity drug access

admin — Sat, 08 Nov 2025 08:22:55 +0000

US President Donald Trump makes an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on Nov. 6, 2025.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Thursday struck landmark deals with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk that could mark a turning point in how many people can access their costly blockbuster obesity drugs.

Under the agreements, Medicare will start covering GLP-1s for obesity for certain patients for the first time beginning in mid-2026 – a shift that will open access to millions of older adults and could spur more employers and other private insurers to follow suit, some experts said. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are also lowering the prices that all state Medicaid programs will pay for GLP-1s, but it’s up to states to opt into coverage.

Obesity drug coverage among state Medicaid plans, employers and other private insurers remains spotty due to the $1,000 or more monthly list prices of existing GLP-1s, including Eli Lilly’s obesity injection Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s competitor Wegovy.

The limited insurance coverage has blocked out patients who can’t afford their hefty price tags. That lack of access has led to mounting pressure on health plans and the government to expand coverage — and the government agreements with drugmakers could mark a major shift.

“I think it’ll start with the government, start with Medicare, and the insurers will quickly follow,” Nick Fabrizio, an associate teaching professor in Cornell’s health policy program, told CNBC. “I do think that’s coming.”

“This is a great step towards trying to address a chronic and serious issue, and for those patients who may feel like they have no hope,” he said.

Roughly 8 to 9 million people in the U.S. are using GLP-1s, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks said at a briefing with reporters on Thursday. The added Medicare coverage under the deal could bring in as many as 40 million new eligible patients, and prompt more commercial plans to cover the medicines, he said.

The deals could also address the inability of many patients with limited or no insurance coverage for obesity drugs to access them, by offering the treatments at a discount on the Trump administration’s direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx.gov.

The monthly out-of-pocket cost of existing injections and upcoming pills could range from $50 to $350 starting next year, depending on the dosage and insurance coverage a patient has.

Still, there is a law prohibiting Medicare from covering weight loss drugs, so any changes would have to come from Congress. Eli Lilly’s Ricks told reporters Thursday that for now, the government will launch an initial pilot program in the spring of 2026 under a temporary legal mechanism. It would be voluntary for Medicare prescription drug plans, so “it may be possible that a few plans do not participate, but I would expect almost all do,” he said.

But Ricks said that it will transition into a formal so-called Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation pilot program in 2027, which means it will be mandatory for all Medicare Part D plans.

“So we expect broad coverage in all plans both in 2026 and beyond,” he said.

Medicare coverage could be a sea change

Likely the most notable feature of the deals is Medicare coverage of obesity drugs, as it will allow the treatments to reach new patients in the program and could lead to broader private insurance coverage.

Under the deals, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk agreed to cut the price Medicare and Medicaid pay for GLP-1s to $245 per month. In Medicare specifically, certain patients will pay a copay of $50 per month for all approved uses of injectable and oral GLP-1 drugs, including diabetes and obesity treatment.

But the Trump administration is putting some constraints on which Medicare beneficiaries will be eligible to receive GLP-1s for obesity and cardiovascular and metabolic benefits. People who qualify include patients with a body mass index of 27 or above with prediabetes or established cardiovascular disease; people with a BMI of 30 or more with related health conditions; or those with severe obesity, or a BMI of 35 and above.

GLP-1s for weight loss are approved for a broader population: people who have obesity or are overweight with one related condition. In a note Thursday, Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger also said it’s unclear whether the government will allow patients to stay on a GLP-1 for obesity after their BMI levels drop.

Even with those restrictions, “I think in practice, it’s still going to cover a fair number of people,” said Darius Lakdawalla, chief scientific officer at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center.

JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott said the eligibility criteria mean 80% of the obese population in Medicare could receive coverage for GLP-1s, despite the limits.

“Today’s deal will open up meaningful access to obesity drugs,” Schott said in a note about Eli Lilly on Thursday.

Lakdawalla added that while there isn’t clear evidence that private insurers will expand coverage on the heels of government plans, “it’s just optically harder for them to continue to constrain coverage when Medicare and Medicaid are covering them.”

“That’s going to exert some pressure for commercial coverage of these drugs to expand as well,” Lakdawalla said.

Coverage for GLP-1s for obesity has ticked up slightly, but remains sparse: A May survey of more than 300 companies by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found that 36% provided coverage for GLP-1s for both weight loss and diabetes, up from 34% in 2024.

Medicaid, direct-to-consumer offerings could fill gaps

Lakdawalla said the direct-to-consumer offerings under the deal could be useful for people who are underinsured, uninsured or may not have coverage for obesity medicines. Still, it’s unclear how many more patients the drugs will reach due to the offerings.

Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have introduced lower cost options for their drugs for people paying in cash and purchasing the drugs directly through their websites. But the deals with Trump will give those patients even bigger discounts.

On TrumpRx, the average monthly cost for Wegovy, Zepbound and other injectable GLP-1s will start at $350 and drop to $250 within the next two years, according to senior Trump administration officials. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk both offered some GLP-1s on their direct-to-consumer platforms for up to $450 to $500 per month.

Starting doses of obesity pills from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk — expected to hit the market next year — will be $149 per month on TrumpRx, Medicare and Medicaid.

Eli Lilly on Thursday said it would lower prices by $50 on its own direct-to-consumer platform, LillyDirect, which already offers Zepbound and other drugs at a discount to cash-paying patients. The multidose pen of Zepbound will be available for $299 per month at the lowest dose, with additional doses being priced up to $449 per month.

In terms of Medicaid, Cornell’s Fabrizio said states will likely want to start covering obesity drugs at the lower price point, “but the question is how will they pay for it?”

Around a dozen state Medicaid programs cover obesity drugs, according to 2024 estimates from KFF, a health policy research organization. While GLP-1s offer substantial health benefits to Medicaid beneficiaries, state programs are already facing constrained budgets and administrative demands.

Fabrizio added that raising taxes to cover the drugs “could be a sticky issue.”

Still, JPMorgan’s Schott said offering lower prices to Medicaid programs could lead to a “significant increase in coverage” in that channel, where Zepbound has very limited uptake.

The post Trump deals with Lilly, Novo Nordisk could broaden obesity drug access appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Eli Lilly Novo Nordisk stock fall on Trump GLP-1 price comments

admin — Sun, 19 Oct 2025 10:05:33 +0000

Shares of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk dropped Friday, after President Donald Trump said his administration aims to cut the cost of brand name GLP-1 weight loss drugs to $150 per month, a fraction of their current list price.

“In London, you’d buy a certain drug for $130 and even less than that … $88 as of… a month ago. And in New York, you pay $1,300 for the same thing,” Trump said during a Thursday afternoon event about in vitro fertilization at the White House. “Instead of $1,300 you’ll be paying about $150 and they’ll be paying $150 so we’re going to pay the same thing.”

Asked by a reporter what drug he was referring to, Trump replied, “I was referring to Ozempic or … the fat loss drug.”

At that point, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz interjected and stressed that the administration has not yet agreed to GLP-1 price reductions with drugmakers.

“We have not negotiated those yet … We’re going to be rolling these out over time, the GLP category of drugs, which includes Ozempic have not been negotiated yet,” Oz said.

Just a week ago, Oz had said that the administration was “in the middle of a lot of action” with price discussions with weight loss drugmakers.

Eli Lilly shares closed 2% lower Friday, while Novo Nordisk’s stock fell 3% in U.S. trading. Meanwhile, shares of Hims & Hers Health — which sells much cheaper compounded GLP-1s — plunged more than 15%.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk were among 17 of the largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies that received letters from the Trump administration following the president’s executive order on so-called most-favored nation pricing, demanding that businesses bring U.S. drug prices in line with those in other developed nations.

Pfizer and AstraZeneca have signed on to the president’s initiative, striking drug pricing deals with the administration. But Trump and Oz’s comments make it clear the administration is looking to get the weight loss drugmakers on board.

$150 GLP-1 would be cheaper than compounders

While demand for weight loss drugs has grown, price has remained an obstacle for consumers and employers.

Only about one in five large employers currently offer GLP-1s for weight loss, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Of those who do, two-thirds say the high cost drugs have had a “significant” impact on their prescription drug spending.

Workers who don’t get coverage through health insurance have increasingly turned to the cash market to buy the drugs on their own.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk sell discounted versions of their diabetes and weight loss medications on their direct-to-consumer sites at roughly $500 a month. Telehealth providers like Hims & Hers offer compounded versions of GLP-1s for less than half that price, anywhere between $130 to $200 per month.

If the administration could bring the cash price for popular weight loss drugs like Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy down to $150, that would be competitive with compounded options and could have a major impact on the current cash market.

The post Eli Lilly Novo Nordisk stock fall on Trump GLP-1 price comments appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Cigna reaches new deal on Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk weight loss drugs

admin — Wed, 21 May 2025 22:58:02 +0000

Wegovy injection pens arranged in Waterbury, Vermont, US, on Monday, April 28, 2025.

Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Only half of health insurer Cigna‘s clients currently cover the popular GLP-1 weight loss drugs Wegovy and Zepbound because of their high costs. But the company’s pharmacy benefits unit Evernorth has reached a deal with drug makers Ely Lilly and Novo Nordisk which it said will bring prices down for employers and their workers.

“This solution is really focused towards clients that aren’t covering it today, and what it allows us to do is one, to bring it on at a reduced price for the plan sponsor, but also capping out the members’ cost at $200,” per month said Harold Carter, Evernorth senior vice president of pharmacy relations.

Many of Evernorth’s clients currently offer the drugs to workers with co-pays as low as $25 per month. For those who have been hesitant to cover the medications because of cost, capping employee out-of-pocket costs at $200 would amount to less than half the price consumers pay in cash without insurance if they bought the drug through Ely Lilly or Novo Nordisk’s direct-to-consumer websites.

The new deal will also include a simplified pre-authorization process for the drugs, and patients will be able to access the drugs for the same price across retail pharmacies, or through Evernorth home delivery service, the company said.

Those new services and discounts will also be provided for Evernorth clients already offering the weight loss drugs.

“Clients that cover weight loss today, we’re expecting that they can see, you know, up to almost 20% a reduction [in] their costs … with this updated arrangement that we’ve been able to get with Lily and Novo, ” said Carter, adding that Evernorth was able to get better pricing while maintaining coverage for both drugs.

Last month, CVS Caremark announced that it had struck a deal to make Novo’s Wegovy its primary weight loss drug starting in the second half of the year, which would mean coverage for Lilly’s Zepbound would no longer be preferred.

Novo Nordisk would not comment on the new pharmacy benefits arrangements. But a spokesperson for Eli Lilly told CNBC, “Lilly will continue to work with those in health care, government and the industry to find creative solutions that help people with obesity access Zepbound.”

Net prices coming down

While Cigna would not discuss the actual discounts reached under the new Evernorth arrangement, analysts say large employers and other insurers have gotten between 30% to 50% below the drugs’ list price.

While Novo’s Wegovy lists for $1,350 per month, in March the average net price for the drug was $616 according to an analysis by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. For Lilly’s Zepbound, the list price is roughly $1,100 per month, while the net price is $725.

These new arrangements by Evernorth and CVS Caremark could bring those net prices even lower for employers, just as the government is negotiating Medicare discounts for Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Those Medicare negotiated rates will take effect in 2027 — effectively making Novo Nordisk’s products the preferred drugs in the program. That could see prices come down even further, said Ben Ippolito, senior fellow in health economics at the American Enterprise Institute.

“Once the drug is negotiated, it must be featured on formulary in Medicare. And so that means that if you’re Eli Lilly, you have to try and compete in the Medicare market with a product that’s going to be on formulary and have an artificially lower price. And so it’s going to filter through to what Eli Lilly does,” Ippolito said.

Evernorth’s new weight loss pricing program will begin in the second half of the year, as employers begin to make decisions about coverage for next year’s plans.

— CNBC’s Angelica Peebles contributed to this report.

Correction: The pricing program will begin in the second half of the year. A previous version of this story misstated the timeline.

The post Cigna reaches new deal on Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk weight loss drugs appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Eli Lilly sues Strive and Empower over compounded tirzepatide

admin — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 08:15:55 +0000

The Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company’s offices in San Diego, California, on Sept. 17, 2020.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Eli Lilly is suing two pharmacies for compounding Zepbound and Mounjaro, claiming the companies are skirting the Food and Drug Administration’s ban on the practice and luring people away from Lilly’s medicines.

In lawsuits filed Tuesday in Delaware and New Jersey, Lilly alleges the two companies — Strive Pharmacy and Empower Pharmacy — are falsely marketing their products as personalized versions of the drugs that have been clinically tested and are made using stringent safety standards. Lilly argues these claims are turning people toward compounded drugs and away from its FDA-approved treatments.

Empower in a statement said restricting access to personalized alternatives to commercial drugs is not in the best interest of patients, and it’s “committed to offering these life-changing formulations.” Strive called Lilly’s lawsuit a classic example of Big Pharma overstepping legitimate regulations to prioritize its own interests and said it will vigorously defend its position.

Compounding pharmacies and outsourcing facilities were largely supposed to stop making their own versions of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Lilly’s weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, last month after the FDA determined the branded versions were no longer in shortage. Some continued compounding, tweaking the dosages and combining them with vitamins, distinctions that make them different from Lilly’s drugs and potentially allow them to skirt the FDA’s ban.

An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, is displayed in New York City on Dec. 11, 2023.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Lilly argues Strive and Empower are merely mass producing altered versions of tirzepatide rather than personalizing them. Branded drugs are allowed to be compounded at large scale when they’re in shortage. Outside of that, custom versions can be made for unique situations, like if a person is allergic to an ingredient or can’t take the form of the drug it’s normally sold in.

Strive and Empower supply tirzepatide to popular telehealth sites, including Lavender Sky Health and Mochi Health. In a statement, Mochi said it doesn’t anticipate any interruptions or delays in patient care as a result of this lawsuit, and that it remains confident in the integrity of its clinical approach. Lavender Sky Health didn’t respond to a request for comment.

We remain committed to providing safe, evidence-based treatments that prioritize their health and well-being above all else. We do not anticipate any interruptions or delays in patient care as a result of this lawsuit and remain confident in the integrity of our clinical approach.

These lawsuits will be the first test of Lilly’s ability to take on compounding pharmacies in court now that Zepbound and Mounjaro are off the FDA’s shortage list. And they could provide a roadmap for Novo Nordisk, whose obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic generally can’t be compounded after the end of May.

The post Eli Lilly sues Strive and Empower over compounded tirzepatide appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Eli Lilly to release weight loss pill orforglipron trial data

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 10:15:59 +0000

A sign with the company logo sits outside of the headquarters of Eli Lilly in Indianapolis, Indiana, on March 17, 2024.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

Patients, doctors and investors will soon learn a lot more about a new, more convenient treatment that could shake up the booming weight loss drug market.

Eli Lilly plans to release initial results from several late-stage clinical trials on its experimental once-daily obesity pill, orforglipron, this year. The company has said it expects to unveil data from five studies in patients with Type 2 diabetes and two trials in people with obesity in 2025.

Analysts expect the pill to be as effective, safe and tolerable to take as Novo Nordisk‘s semaglutide – the active ingredient in its popular but costly weight loss injection Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic. The trial results are among the pharmaceutical industry’s most critical and closely watched of the year, as they bring Eli Lilly’s drug one step closer to becoming a new, needle-free alternative for weight loss and diabetes.

“This could join a growing toolbox of medications for obesity, and it could be a game-changer,” said Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, medical director for UC San Diego’s Center for Advanced Weight Management.

If it enters the market, orforglipron could help more patients access the treatments and alleviate the supply shortfalls of the injections on the market. The pill could also help Eli Lilly solidify its dominance in the growing segment as a slate of other drugmakers race to bring a product to the market.

Offering the first oral version of a so-called GLP-1 could help Eli Lilly capture an even greater share of the market for that popular class of weight loss and diabetes drugs. Eli Lilly is currently about three years ahead of other drugmakers developing pills, including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Roche, Structure Therapeutics and Viking Therapeutics, Guggenheim analyst Seamus Fernandez told CNBC.

Some analysts expect the market for GLP-1s to be worth more than $150 billion annually by the early 2030s. Oral GLP-1s could grow to be worth $50 billion of that total, Fernandez said.

In a statement, Eli Lilly said it is “investigating orforglipron for the potential to bring a safe and effective treatment to people with these diseases who are looking for a convenient, oral option.”

Eli Lilly’s pill works in a similar way to Wegovy, Ozempic, and Novo Nordisk’s diabetes pill Rybelsus, targeting a gut hormone called GLP-1 to suppress a person’s appetite and regulate blood sugar.

But unlike those three medications, Eli Lilly’s pill is not a peptide medication. That means it is absorbed more easily in the body and doesn’t require dietary restrictions like Rybelsus does.

It is unclear whether orforglipron will have a hefty list price similar to those of the injections, which cost roughly $1,000 per month, or whether it will help expand insurance coverage for obesity treatments. Medicare and many employer-based plans still don’t cover those drugs. But so-called small molecule pills will at least be easier for Eli Lilly to manufacture than injections.

In January, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the pill could receive U.S. regulatory approval as soon as early 2026. The company also said in its annual report in February it recorded a nearly $550 million “pre-launch inventory” charge for oforglipron, meaning it is preparing to manufacture the drug even before its approval.

“That’s a good indicator that they are comfortable with what they’re seeing across the trials,” BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman told CNBC.

Eli Lilly has benefitted from the windfall from tirzepatide – the active ingredient in its weight loss injection Zepbound and diabetes shot Mounjaro – which targets GLP-1 but also activates another gut hormone called GIP.

Fueled by those treatments, Eli Lilly has become the largest global pharmaceutical and health-care company by market cap, with a market value of about $814 billion as of Monday. The company raked in more than $45 billion in revenue in 2024 alone, a significant share of which came from its portfolio of diabetes and obesity products.

Who could benefit from the pill

While injections will likely remain a popular option, a once-daily pill like Eli Lilly’s could be much easier for some patients to take and store.

“What we’re going to see over the next couple of years is that we’re moving away from one-size-fits-all products to more customized products that are more directly aligned to the profile of the patient,” Seigerman said.

Patients can inject Zepbound and Wegovy under their skin with a click of a button, but must follow specific instructions, such as storing the shots at certain temperatures and injecting in a different spot each week. Meanwhile, Rybelsus must be taken in the morning on an empty stomach with no more than four ounces of plain water.

Rebekah Carl injects herself with her weekly dose of Wegovy in New Columbia, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 13, 2023.

Hannah Beier | Reuters

Orforglipron does not have dietary restrictions, and will also offer an option for patients who could benefit from treatment but are afraid of needles.

Th pill could also tap into new markets in countries that don’t have the resources for the cold supply chains needed to store and administer GLP-1 injections, Guggenheim’s Fernandez said.

People who lost weight on the injections and are tired of taking a shot every week could also be “good candidates” to switch to a pill and take them as maintenance doses, which are meant to be taken long term to prolong the effects of a drug, Seigerman added. Eli Lilly is studying orforglipron as a maintenance dose in patients who took tirzepatide throughout a phase three trial called SURMOUNT-5, with results expected in early 2026.

Still, some patients who don’t mind taking injections may continue their current treatment regimen, UCSD’s Grunvald noted. He said some people already take several pills for other conditions each day, so they may prefer to take an injection once a week “and forget about it rather than adding another pill.”

Eli Lilly’s pill could also be more fit for people who are overweight or “modestly obese,” said Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger. Those who have a very high body mass index will “best be treated with injectables that offer greater efficacy,” Risinger said.

While orforglipron is expected to be as good for weight loss as Wegovy, Zepbound, on average, is more effective at helping patients lose weight than Novo Nordisk’s injection, according to real-world data and a head-to-head trial on the drugs.

Late-stage diabetes trials on orforglipron

ACHIEVE-1 – Study of orforglipron in adults with Type 2 diabetes and inadequate control of blood sugar levels with diet and exercise
ACHIEVE-5 – Study of orforglipron in patients with Type 2 diabetes and inadequate control of blood sugar levels with insulin glargine, with or without the diabetes treatments Metformin and/or SGLT-2 Inhibitors
ACHIEVE-J – Long-term safety study of orforglipron in patients with Type 2 diabetes
ACHIEVE-3 – Study of orforglipron compared with semaglutide in participants with Type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled with Metformin
ACHIEVE-4 – Study of orforglipron compared with insulin glargine in patients with Type 2 diabetes and obesity or overweight at increased cardiovascular risk
ACHIEVE-2 – Study of orforglipron compared with dapagliflozin (prescription drug for diabetes and heart failure) in patients with Type 2 diabetes and inadequate control of blood sugar levels with Metformin

A pill is a welcome alternative for patients like Willow Baillies, 29, who has been injecting herself with cheaper, compounded versions of Zepbound because her insurance does not cover the branded medication.

The Food and Drug Administration, in most cases, now bars compounding pharmacies from making those unapproved versions because it declared the Zepbound shortage over in December.

Baillies, a human resources specialist based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said a pill would “offer peace of mind because I don’t have to think much about taking it.” Currently, her injections require careful preparation, such as disinfecting her entire counter with alcohol pads.

Orforglipron’s entrance into the market could also help the weight loss drug market reach more patients in the primary care setting who are not currently receiving treatment but could benefit from it, Seigerman said. While some primary care doctors can and do prescribe GLP-1s, others are hesitant due to concerns about side effects and administration since they are injections.

He said the primary care part of the market is key for the weight loss drug market to hit Wall Street’s lofty forecasts.

Accessibility, pricing and insurance

Still, Seigerman said he believes primary care providers who prescribe pills may still encounter issues with pricing and insurance coverage.

He said he doesn’t expect orforglipron to cost significantly less than existing injections because pharmaceutical products are “typically priced by the value that they bring, regardless of the route of administration.” For example, Rybelsus costs about $997 a month before insurance, the same list price as Ozempic.

Risinger said he expects orforglipron to be priced at a slight discount to Zepbound, which means Eli Lilly’s pill could cost significantly less than Wegovy.

The list price of Wegovy – nearly $1,350 per month – is already around a 20% premium to Zepbound’s list price of just under $1,100 per month, he said. That means if the pill costs 10% to 15% less than Zepbound, it would be almost a 30% to 35% discount compared to Wegovy, according to Risinger.

But Risinger said he does not necessarily expect the pill to lead to better insurance coverage for obesity medications. He believes orforglipron will be covered by some plans like Zepbound is, but certain employers will likely still fear that some patients are only using obesity drugs for cosmetic purposes. Other employers are still balking at the high costs associated with covering those treatments.

Jill Skala, a teacher in western Pennsylvania, said she would “definitely consider” taking a pill if it was less expensive than Zepbound and had “equal efficacy or better.” Skala, 49 is currently taking Zepbound and also has a nine-month supply of compounded tirzepatide, which she expects to use until the end of the year.

“I would probably just stay with Zepbound if [the pill] wasn’t significantly less expensive, as long as Zepbound was still working for me,” Skala told CNBC.

Trial data expectations

Fotografiabasica | E+ | Getty Images

Several analysts said they expect Eli Lilly’s pill to be as effective or slightly less than injectable semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, in phase three trials.

In patients with obesity, that implies weight loss of around 13% to 15%, according to a February note from JPMorgan analyst Chris Schott. That is in line with or slightly below Wegovy’s 15% average weight loss in phase three trials.

Eli Lilly’s phase two trial examined different doses of the pill in overweight or obese patients, with a highest dose of 45 milligrams. But the company is only giving doses of up to 36 milligrams in phase three trials on orforglipron.

Overweight or obese patients who took 36 milligrams of the pill once a day lost 13.5% of their body weight on average after 36 weeks in Eli Lilly’s phase two trial. That compares with an average weight loss of 2.3% for people who received a placebo.

Eli Lilly expects weight loss in people with diabetes to be “significantly less” than patients with obesity who don’t have diabetes, the company’s Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky said on an earnings call in February. That’s based on prior studies on orforglipron and other GLP-1 therapies, he noted.

Schott said weight loss among diabetes patients could come in between 6% to 8%. He also expects hemoglobin A1c – a blood test that measures the average blood sugar level over the past two to three months – to improve by 1.8 to 2.1 points. That would be in line with results seen in diabetes patients who took Ozempic.

In a phase two trial, orforglipron led to an HbA1c reduction of up to 2.1% at 26 weeks in adults with diabetes, compared to a decrease of 0.4% among those who took a placebo.

Late-stage obesity trials, other studies on orforglipron

ATTAIN-J – Study of orforglipron in Japanese adults with obesity
ATTAIN-1 – Study of orforglipron in adults who have obesity or are overweight with weight-related comorbidities
ATTAIN-2 – Study of orforglipron in adults who have obesity or are overweight and have Type 2 diabetes
ATTAIN-MAINTAIN – Study of orforglipron for the maintenance of body weight loss in patients who have obesity or are overweight with weight-related comorbidities
ATTAIN-OSA – Study of orforglipron in people with obstructive sleep apnea and who have obesity or are overweight

However, how well patients tolerate Eli Lilly’s pill – specifically the rate of gastrointestinal side effects in the trial – will be the “key focus” of the phase three study results, according to Schott. It’s an issue top of mind for doctors, patients and investors because side effects such as nausea and vomiting are a significant reason why some people stop taking the injections.

Schott said the bar for orforglipron is nausea rates of less than 25% and vomiting rates in the low double digits for diabetes patients.

He expects orforglipron to cause slightly worse rates of gastrointestinal side effects in patients with obesity. That could lead to “tolerability worse than Zepbound but closer to Wegovy,” Schott added.

Orforglipron’s nausea and vomiting rates in the phase two trial were “meaningfully greater” than those among patients who took 2-milligram doses of semaglutide in a phase three trial, Leerink’s Risinger said.

But he expects patients to tolerate Eli Lilly’s pill better in phase three trials because they are longer in duration than the mid-stage studies and likely involve slower titration. That refers to how quickly patients start at a lower dose of a drug and ramp up to a higher target dose.

On safety, Schott said he expects a “very low probability” of any issues that could put the entire development program for orforglipron at risk. He also believes it is highly unlikely that there will be any concerns related to liver toxicity – an issue that derailed one of Pfizer’s experimental obesity pills.

What the pill means for competitors

Positive data on the pill and a potential approval would be a boon to Eli Lilly, but could also be good news for other companies developing oral GLP-1s, according to some analysts.

Orforglipron’s success could “validate” that administering a GLP-1 orally is possible, BMO’s Seigerman said.

Other drugmakers developing obesity pills

But Seigerman said it will also put pressure on smaller companies developing pills, such as Structure Therapeutics, to find a partner that can help them compete in the weight loss drug market with pharmaceutical behemoths like Eli Lilly.

Guggenheim’s Fernandez said disappointing data or any safety issues that come up with Eli Lilly’s pill will “raise the bar that investors are considering” for non-peptide oral GLP-1s. Poor results could negatively impact the perception of those drugs, he added.

The post Eli Lilly to release weight loss pill orforglipron trial data appeared first on Our Story Insight.

Eli Lilly LLY cuts 2024 revenue outlook on weight loss drugs

admin — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 19:39:04 +0000

The Eli Lilly & Co. logo at the company’s Digital Health Innovation Hub facility in Singapore, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024.

Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Eli Lilly cut its revenue guidance on Tuesday as it said demand for its weight loss and diabetes drugs would not meet its lofty expectations.

The drugmaker’s shares dropped more than 7% in midday trading Tuesday.

Eli Lilly said it now expects full-year 2024 revenue of about $45 billion. That’s lower than the $45.4 billion to $46 billion the company anticipated in October. The new outlook would still mark a 32% jump in revenue from the prior year.

Eli Lilly has been racing to meet soaring demand for its diabetes treatment Mounjaro and obesity drug Zepbound, investing billions to ramp up its manufacturing capacity of the company’s booming so-called incretin drugs. The efforts appear to be paying off: The Food and Drug Administration in December reaffirmed its decision to declare the U.S. shortage of tirzepatide — the active ingredient in both drugs — over.

In an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the company has “tons of supply coming online” and “that kind of growth will likely continue.”

He also noted that the company will add more manufacturing capacity and expects to produce at least 60% more sellable doses of its incretin drugs in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2024.

More CNBC health coverage

For the fourth quarter, Eli Lilly expects $13.5 billion in revenue. The total includes about $3.5 billion for Mounjaro and $1.9 billion for Zepbound.

Wall Street had expected fourth-quarter and full-year revenue of $13.94 billion and $45.49 billion, respectively, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG.

The outlook cut comes as Eli Lilly competes with Novo Nordisk and other, smaller rivals for share of the exploding weight loss and diabetes drug market. Eli Lilly is developing an obesity pill that would be more convenient for patients and easier to manufacture, and Ricks expects it to be approved as soon as early next year.

“While the U.S. incretin market grew 45% compared to the same quarter last year, our previous guidance had anticipated even faster acceleration of growth for the quarter. That, in addition to lower-than-expected channel inventory at year-end, contributed to our Q4 results,” Ricks said in a statement.

The drugmaker also said it expects sales of $58 billion to $61 billion in fiscal 2025.

Eli Lilly is expected to report full quarterly results on Feb. 6.

Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO

The post Eli Lilly LLY cuts 2024 revenue outlook on weight loss drugs appeared first on Our Story Insight.