Benzinga - by Neil Dennis, Benzinga Staff Writer.
After a blistering performance based on the success of its weight-loss treatments Mounjaro and Zepbound, Eli Lilly & Company (NYSE:LLY) stock has been trading sideways for the last five weeks as the company struggles to keep pace with demand for the drugs.
Eli Lilly shares have climbed 162% since the launch of Mounjaro in May 2022. Since mid-February, however, the shares have stalled, albeit around record levels.
The sideways move could be attributed to a lack of availability of its two latest blockbusters.
Sales of its new products, launched since 2022, that include both Mounjaro and its sister weight-loss treatment Zepbound, contributed $2.5 billion towards its total fourth-quarter revenues of $9.35 billion. And of this, Mounjaro alone recorded sales of $2.21 billion — up from $1.41 billion in the previous quarter.
This is indicative of the anti-obesity drug’s popularity. In fact, Amazon Pharmacy was showing that certain doses were “currently unavailable” following Amazon.com Inc‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) integration of LillyDirect into its services.
Also Read: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk’s Strategies Against New Weight-Loss Drug Competitors
FDA Shortage List
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) list of pharmaceutical shortages listed Mounjaro as being of “limited availability” in four out of six of its dose sizes until the end of this month. Previously, the shortages were seen lasting until the end of March.Most of the dose strengths, however, were listed on Amazon Pharmacy as “unavailable,” according to a recent report by Fierce Pharma.
The FDA puts the shortages down to increases in demand rather than problems with supply. Indeed, Eli Lilly reported earlier this year that it was expanding its production capacity for its weight loss drugs, having committed $1 billion for a new manufacturing site in Concord, North Carolina.
Anat Ashkenazi, CFO, said she anticipates that production for Mounjaro and Zepbound will begin at the site by the end of this year.
“We expect our production of sellable doses in the second half of 2024 will be at least one and a half times the production in the second half of 2023,” Ashkenazi said at Eli Lilly’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call in February.
Lilly is also building a new $2.5 billion manufacturing site in Germany to address shortages of the drugs in Europe.
Novo Nordisk
Rival anti-obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) has encountered similar shortages of its two treatments Wegovy and Ozempic.It announced in February that it was to buy contract pharmaceutical manufacturer Catalent for $16.5 billion.
Eli Lilly stock was trading 1.6% higher at $776.46 on Wednesday, while Novo Nordisk stock was up 0.4% at $127.01.
Now Read: Obesity Drugs On Amazon – Eli Lilly Partners With Amazon’s Pharmacy Unit
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