Mounjaro's sales led the drugmakers's stellar performance in the second quarter, bringing in $9.9 billion in sales
Sales of Eli Lilly's GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro soared in the second quarter.
Eli Lilly, the American drug giant, had another record-breaking quarter.
The weight-loss injection Zepbound saw sales soar 46% in the second quarter to $4.9 billion. The FactSet consensus was $4.7 billion. Mounjaro, the same drug but approved for Type 2 diabetes, brought in $9.9 billion in revenue, against a FactSet estimate of $8.9 billion. Mounjaro is the world's top-selling drug.
Lilly's stock $(LLY)$ rallied 5.4% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
Foundayo, its new GLP-1 pill, brought in $98 million in sales in its first full quarter since launching in April, coming in lower than the FactSet consensus of $103 million. Novo Nordisk (DK:NOVO.B) (NVO), which launched the Wegovy pill in January, and Lilly are now competing to see which company will lead the GLP-1 pill market. The hugely popular Wegovy pill had about $500 million in sales in the second quarter.
That said, Lilly's GLP-1 franchise, which includes Zepbound/Mounjaro and Foundayo, makes up 65% of its sales. Lilly is also gearing up to expand its weight-loss options. It now plans to submit retatrutide, a new weight-loss injection that helps people lose up to 28% of their body weight at the highest dose, to the U.S. regulators in the first quarter of 2027, aiming for approval later that year or in early 2028.
Lilly's total revenue climbed 48% to $23.0 billion, up from $15.6 billion in the same three months a year ago, and handily beating a FactSet estimate of $20.7 billion.
Driven by American's continued demand for weight-loss drugs, the Indianapolis drugmaker has grown fast. Its revenue has nearly doubled since the second quarter of 2024, when it reported $11.3 billion in sales.
Lilly has been putting its cash to use. In the second quarter alone, the drugmaker paid $3.3 billion upfront for an in vivo cell therapy company called Kelonia Therapeutics and $2.8 billion for a psychedelic company AtaiBeckley. It even made an undisclosed investment in Oura, the maker of popular health-tracking rings that's filed to go public.
Net income came in at $7.1 billion, against a FactSet estimate of $5.4 billion. Adjusted earnings per share was $8.38, against the FactSet estimate of $6.01.
The company also increased its guidance for the year, saying it now expects revenue between $85.0 billion and $87.0 billion. That's up from the $82 billion to $85 billion it previously guided for.
Lilly's stock, which has been hitting record highs this summer, is up 3.3% so far this year.
-Jaimy Lee