Eli Lilly cut its revenue guidance on Tuesday as it said demand for its weight loss and diabetes drugs would not meet its lofty expectations.
The drugmaker’s shares dropped about 6% in early trading Tuesday.
Eli Lilly said it now expects full-year 2024 revenue of about $45 billion. That’s lower than the $45.4 billion to $46 billion the company anticipated in October. The new outlook would still mark a 32% jump in revenue from the prior year.
For the fourth quarter, Eli Lilly expects $13.5 billion in revenue. The total includes about $3.5 billion for the diabetes treatment Mounjaro and $1.9 billion for obesity drug Zepbound, the company’s booming so-called incretin drugs.
The outlook cut comes as Eli Lilly competes with Novo Nordisk and other, smaller rivals for share of the exploding weight loss and diabetes drug market. Eli Lilly is developing an obesity pill that would be more convenient for patients and easier to manufacture, and Ricks expects it to be approved as soon as early next year.
Wall Street had expected fourth-quarter and full-year revenue of $13.94 billion and $45.49 billion, respectively, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG.
“While the U.S. incretin market grew 45% compared to the same quarter last year, our previous guidance had anticipated even faster acceleration of growth for the quarter. That, in addition to lower-than-expected channel inventory at year-end, contributed to our Q4 results,” said CEO David Ricks.
The drugmaker also said it expects sales of $58 billion to $61 billion in fiscal 2025.
Eli Lilly is expected to report full quarterly results on Feb. 6.
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