Eli Lilly has become the largest pharmaceutical company in the world by stock market value thanks to its drugs against diabetes and obesity.
The company closed the 2023 financial year with record sales of 34,124.1 million dollars (about 31,772 million euros at the current exchange rate), 20% more than in 2022. Trulicity and Mounjaro were the drugs that generated the highest revenue.
In particular, Mounjaro sales went from 482 million in 2022, the year of its launch, to 5,163 million last year.
And at the end of the year, Zepbound, the same active ingredient, was added to the market, which is expected to become the best-selling drug in history.
In the fourth quarter, in which the turnover of the Indianapolis-based group grew by 28%, to $9,353 million, Mounjaro was already the drug with the highest revenue, with $2,205.6 million.
Demand for Mounjaro is so high that it is causing supply problems.
Added to that figure are the first 175.8 million invoiced by Zepbound, with the same active ingredient.
Zepbound was approved in November by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for overweight or obese patients with complications such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea or cardiovascular disease. .
In patient trials, Lilly's drug caused more weight loss than rivals Ozempic and Novo Nordisk's twin Wegowy.
The company – still legally Eli Lilly, but which has chosen to use only Lilly as a brand, without the name of its founder – had a profit of $5,240.4 million in the year, 16% less than in 2022, for the increase in ongoing research and development charges for purchased products.
In the fourth quarter, profit increased 13%, to $2,189.6 million, the second highest quarterly figure in its history.
Ambitious forecasts
Lilly has also announced that it expects 2024 sales to be between $40.4 billion and $41.6 billion, which implies growth of 18% to 22% and exceeds analysts' average projection of $39.5 billion.
Shares of the company founded by Colonel Eli Lilly in 1876 are trading at all-time highs after more than doubling in value in the last 12 months and sixfold in the last five years.
The company has a market capitalization or market value of about $670 billion, compared to $150 billion for the giant Pfizer, for example.
It also far surpasses Novo-Nordisk, which has developed Ozempic for patients with diabetes and Wegowy, with a broader indication against overweight, and which is worth more than 400,000 million dollars on the stock market.
The market is huge and has boosted the sales and results of both companies.
About 70% of American adults are obese or overweight, and many of those who are overweight suffer from a related disease, according to the FDA.
Both Lilly and Novo Nordisk are having trouble meeting huge demand.
This same Monday, Novo Nordisk's largest shareholder bought Catalent, one of the largest drug manufacturing companies in the world, for $16.5 billion, debt included.
In a three-way agreement, Novo will pay the holder $11 billion to take over three of the Catalent factories acquired in the operation.
“2023 was a breakthrough year for Lilly, delivering life-changing medicines to more patients than ever before, resulting in strong revenue growth,” said David A. Ricks, president and CEO of Lilly, to through a statement.
“We are advancing our portfolio of new medicines for serious diseases and creating new partnerships and innovative forms of collaboration to expand this portfolio,” he added, concluding: “As we enter 2024, we remain focused on the opportunity before us, to help solve some of the world's most difficult health problems and improve the lives of millions of patients."
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