American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced a $3 billion investment to expand its manufacturing plant in Wisconsin, which it acquired from Nexus Pharmaceuticals earlier this year.
This investment will mainly be used to expand the production scale of its injection drugs, especially its popular tirzepatide drug, which is sold under the brand of Zepbound to treat obesity and Mounjaro to treat type 2 diabetes.
This is Lilly's largest manufacturing investment outside of Indiana, with plans to add 750 high skilled positions to its existing workforce of over 100.
The editor has repeatedly pointed out the huge market space for weight loss drugs, which will undoubtedly become the hottest investment trend in the future!
How to make a trillion dollar market weight loss drug (semaglutide)? Heavy weight! The weight loss drug market is expected to reach $150 billion by 2030! Synthetic biology and biomanufacturing companies, come and lay out!
Last night, an 800 billion yuan biopharmaceutical giant hit a new high in market value and launched a "small cup" half price weight loss drug!
As of this year, the stock price of Eli Lilly has surged by 41.6%, while the industry average increase is 8.9%. Zepbound and Mounjaro have quickly become the main revenue drivers for Eli Lilly in 2024 since their listing, with demand rapidly increasing.
The sales of these two drugs reached $11 billion in the first three quarters of 2024, accounting for approximately 45% of the company's total revenue. However, the quarter on quarter growth of these two drugs was affected by supply and channel dynamics, and sales in the third quarter were impacted by inventory issues.
Zepbound has performed well in clinical trials. On Wednesday, Eli Lilly reported the results of a phase III study showing that patients treated with Zepbound lost more weight than those treated with Novo Nordisk's popular weight loss drug, Wegovy.
Research data shows that patients receiving Zepbound treatment have an average weight loss of 20.2%, which is better than Wegovy's 13.7%.
In addition, tirzepatide is also being developed for other indications such as obstructive sleep apnea, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease associated with cardiovascular risk and metabolic dysfunction. The approval of these extended indications may further drive sales.
The weight loss drug market will be the hottest investment area in the future. The obesity treatment market has recently attracted a lot of attention, with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk leading this field with their respective drugs. Goldman Sachs estimates that the obesity market in the United States is expected to reach $130 billion by 2030.
Wegovy of Novo Nordisk contains an ingredient called semaglutide, which is also approved for use in type 2 diabetes as Ozempic pre filler and Rybelsus oral tablet. Like Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk also faces cyclical supply constraints and drug shortages of semaglutide products.
