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In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the “real star here” of the quarter is tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro. Both drugs are leading the U.S. market for obesity and diabetes, he said. Ricks said the quarterly beat was driven by “really strong international performance,” pointing to Mounjaro’s launch in China, Brazil and India earlier this year. “What we’re seeing is a global demand for this product,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” On an earnings call Thursday, Ricks said Eli Lilly gained share in the injectable obesity and diabetes market for the fifth consecutive quarter. The company’s drugs account for nearly 6 out of 10 prescriptions within that class of medicines. Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: Earnings per share: $7.02 adjusted vs. $5.69 expectedRevenue: $17.60 billion vs. $16.01 billion expected The results come as Eli Lilly works to maintain its edge over chief rival Novo Nordisk in the booming market for a class of obesity and diabetes drugs called GLP-1s. The company posted third-quarter revenue of $17.60 billion, up 54% from the same period a year ago. Sales in the U.S. jumped 45% to $11.30 billion. Eli Lilly said that was driven by a 60% increase in volume — or the number of prescriptions or units sold — for its products, primarily for Mounjaro and Zepbound. That was partially offset by lower realized prices of the drugs, the company said. The pharmaceutical giant booked net income of $5.58 billion, or $6.21 per share, for the third quarter. That compares with net income of $970.3 million, or $1.07 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items associated with the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly posted earnings of $7.02 per share for the second quarter. The results underscore Eli Lilly’s strong advantage in the booming GLP-1 drug market. The company has gained the majority market share over the last year, thanks to the strong profile of its weight loss and diabetes injections and a boost from its direct-to-consumer sales, among other efforts. Eli Lilly took another stride to boost access to Zepbound on Wednesday, partnering with Walmart to offer in-store pickup of discounted vials of the drug for cash-paying patients. In the interview, Ricks said Eli Lilly plans to expand its direct-to-consumer and cash-pay offerings for its drugs. The company is now betting on its closely watched experimental obesity pill, orforglipron, to solidify its dominance in the space, especially as Novo Nordisk and other drugmakers race to bring their own pills or next-generation injections to the market. “We’ve been ramping both production and planning for really a broad global rollout upon regulatory approval,” Ricks told CNBC, referring to orforglipron’s launch. On Thursday, Novo Nordisk launched a rival bid for U.S. obesity biotech company Metsera, hijacking an offer from Pfizer as it races to catch up to Eli Lilly. When asked about competition, Ricks said on the earnings call that “of course, everybody would like to be in our position, but we’re focused on defending it and mostly just executing the play we have.”
