Eli Lilly's Zepbound rises while Novo Nordisk's Ozempic levels off

Eli Lilly's Zepbound and Mounjaro beat Wall Street expectations while Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy disappointed.

8/8/24 10:47AM

Eli Lilly may eventually catch up to Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk when it comes to selling the weight loss drugs that have boomed in popularity in recent years.

Eli Lilly reported on Thursday that sales for Zepbound, which it has only sold for less than a year, reached $1.2 billion, crushing Wall Street estimated. Mounjaro, a similar drug, reached $3.1 billion in sales, making the biggest money-maker on Eli Lilly's portfolio.

As of this quarter three of the four most lucrative drugs Eli Lilly sells are diabetes medications also used for weight loss. (The other is Verzenio, which treats breast cancer.)

Novo Nordisk on Wednesday reported a disappointing quarter for the first time since the boom in obesity medications. Sales for its weight loss drugs — Ozempic and Wegovy — missed expectations and appear to be leveling off.

Demand for weight loss drugs has led both companies to up production to avoid shortages. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have each spent billions to increase production of their obesity drugs.

Earlier this year there were shortages of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk's best-selling drug that kicked off the weight loss drug craze. Those shortages have cleared up but it appears to have limited its growth this year.

Shortages remain for Wegovy, according to a database from the Food and Drug Administration. As of this month none of Eli Lilly's weight loss drugs are facing a shortage.

While Eli Lilly's weight loss drugs had a better quarter than Novo Nordisk's, the latter had a head start in the obesity drug race and is well ahead.

Novo Nordisk's Ozempic made $30 billion this past quarter, compared to $3.1 billion from Eli Lilly's Mounjaro. Ozempic makes up almost half of the market share for that category of weight loss drugs, according to Novo Nordisk.

David Crowther, Claire Yubin Oh

TAKING PITCHES

11/3/25

Warren Buffett’s big cash pile just hit $382 billion — what could Berkshire buy?

Berkshire Hathaway is throwing off more money than ever before — but Buffett and co. are staying patient.

CEO Warren Buffett Attending Baseball Game

3d sketch poster trend collage image of healthy salad leaves nutrition rotten iceberg mouth smile lips food diet hand hold fork

The slop bowl recession just sent Chipotle’s stock cratering

Chipotle dropped 18% yesterday, and its woes weighed on the wider slop bowl complex, dragging Cava and Sweetgreen down, too.

Claire Yubin Oh10/31/25

J. Edward Moreno

10/30/25

Most health insurers beat estimates in Q3, but investors have mixed feelings

While generally in line with expectations, medical costs still haven’t come down.

Millie Giles10/30/25

eBay stock slumps on gloomy Q4 outlook despite solid Q3 earnings

Shares of eBay fell as much as 10.5% in premarket trading on Thursday morning after the company gave a lower-than-expected profit forecast for the important holiday shopping season.

The e-commerce giant reported solid numbers for the third quarter on Wednesday, with revenue up 9% as reported to $2.8 billion and gross merchandise volume rising 10% to $20.1 billion, topping the average analyst forecast of $19.4 billion, per Bloomberg.

However, concerns about the future somewhat overshadowed these results.

eBay outlined its profit outlook for the period ending in December to $1.31 to $1.36 a share, with revenue at $2.83 billion to $2.89 billion. According to Bloomberg-compiled data, this broadly matches Wall Street’s estimates for the top line, but misses on the bottom line, with analysts forecasting EPS to come in at $1.39 — suggesting the company expects some further margin pressure.

The company has been facing macroeconomic challenges since the US ended the de minimis tariff exemption in late August, with the online marketplace reliant on shipments. One small silver lining? CFO Peggy Alford highlighted a “less durable trend” on a post-earnings call: that as commodity prices for precious metals boomed, demand for bullion and collectible coins on eBay spiked.