(Reuters) – Eli Lilly said on Monday that it will acquire a manufacturing facility from Nexus Pharmaceuticals to produce injectable medicines.
Lilly expects production at the facility based in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, to begin at the end of 2025.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Soaring demand for GLP-1 agonists, a class of highly effective diabetes and obesity drugs which suppress appetite and promote a feeling of fullness, has led to constrained supply for drugmakers such as Lilly and Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website showed that due to increased demand, most doses of Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight-loss drug Zepbound would be in limited supply through the second quarter of this year.
Larger doses of injectable medicines Mounjaro and Zepbound, including the 5 milligrams (mg), 7.5 mg, 10 mg, 12.5 mg, and 15 mg versions, had limited availability, according to the FDA website. The 2.5-milligram dose for the treatments was listed as available.
Lilly had said it anticipates limited availability in the near term but had signaled that investments in manufacturing and supply capacity would progressively increase production of its medicines throughout 2024 and beyond.
BY THE NUMBERS
Lilly had reported Mounjaro sales at $4.83 billion in 2023, while Zepbound, which received U.S. approval in November, brought in sales of $175.8 million in the first few weeks of its launch.
Analysts expect Mounjaro’s 2024 sales to be at $9.9 billion, according to LSEG data.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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