Eli Lilly’s diabetes treatment Mounjaro, which is widely used for weight loss, raked in nearly $1 billion in second-quarter sales, or more than $200 million above what Wall Street had expected.
Shares of the drugmaker soared to an all-time-high early Tuesday after Lilly said Mounjaro sales swelled more than 70% since the first quarter to $980 million. Almost all of that came from the U.S., and the company said significant demand was leading to delays in filling orders for some doses.
Analysts expected the drug to bring in about $740 million during the quarter, according to FactSet.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug at the end of last year's second quarter to treat type 2 diabetes, but analysts see a lot of potential for it in the booming market for weight-loss treatments, and doctors have already been prescribing it off-label for that.
Regulators are currently deciding whether to also make weight loss an approved use. Lilly said earlier this year that the injectable treatment helped people with type 2 diabetes who were overweight or obese to lose up to 16% of their body weight, or more than 34 pounds, over nearly 17 months.
If approved, Lilly’s drug would compete with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy — also sold to manage diabetes under the brand Ozempic — in a wave of new options that is changing the treatment of obesity.
Analysts have predicted that tirzepatide could become one of the top-selling drugs ever, with annual sales topping $50 billion.
Mounjaro sales helped lift Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. to a better-than-expected second quarter.
Overall, Lilly’s profit jumped 85% in the second quarter to more than $1.76 billion. Revenue rose 28% to $8.31 billion. Adjusted earnings totaled $2.11 per share.
Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.98 per share on $6.86 billion in revenue.
Shares of Lilly jumped about 15%, or more than $70, to $524.48 after markets opened Tuesday. Broader indexes slipped at the start of trading.
That eclipsed the stock’s previous all-time-high price of $469.87, which Lilly hit at the end of June.
