Team Metabolic Health

Eli Lilly raised its annual sales forecast by $3 billion on Thursday, driven by surging demand and ramped up manufacturing capacity for its popular weight-loss drug Zepbound, lifting its shares more than 10% premarket.

The drugmaker also raised its annual profit forecast and said sales of its Zepbound crossed $1 billion for the first time in a quarter. The milestone for Zepbound comes a day after Danish rival Novo Nordisk reported a rare miss on quarterly sales of its weight-loss drug Wegovy and trimmed its full-year profit forecast.

Lilly and Novo are racing to increase manufacturing capacity to meet unprecedented demand for their popular weight-loss drugs that have been shown to help patients lose as much as 20% of their weight on average. It has invested an additional $5.3 billion in May on a manufacturing site in Indiana for production of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound, as well as its diabetes drug Mounjaro.

Credit: The Economic Times