Why Eli Lilly Stock Just Popped
Key Points
Novo Nordisk announced its CagriSema GLP-1 weight loss drug underperformed Eli Lilly's tirzepatide in a trial.
Separately, Lilly announced patients can use a single injector to hold a month's supply of its Zepbound tirzepatide drug.
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Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) stock, maker of the Mounjaro and Zepbound GLP-1 weight loss drugs, enjoyed a modest bounce on Monday, rising 3.6% through 10:30 a.m. ET on some good news for Lilly... and some terrible news for rival Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO).
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Novo vs. Lilly
Novo Nordisk first: This morning, the Danish drugmaker, and inventor of the semaglutide-based Wegovy and Ozempic GLP-1 drugs, announced clinical trial results of its new drug CagriSema (a 50-50 mix of amylin analog cagrilintide and Novo's semaglutide glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist).
After 84 weeks' use, Novo reported that patients lost 23% of their body weight with CagriSema -- versus 25.5% with Eli Lilly's tirzepatide. Simply put, Novo's new drug underperformed Lilly's existing drug, giving Lilly the advantage.
And that's not all.
In separate news this morning, Lilly announced that it's launching a new delivery system for Zepbound: KwikPen. It's nothing too revolutionary -- basically just a bigger syringe --. Still, it will allow Zepbound users to buy a full month's supply of the drug in a single pen that can be used to administer the medication in fourths, one shot per week (as opposed to four separate pens, each used weekly).
What does this mean for Eli Lilly stock?
Eli Lilly will keep the price of Zepbound at $299 per month for the lowest dose. Patients opting to use KwikPen for their GLP-1 doses instead of single-dose autoinjectors (or single-dose vials injected with an ordinary syringe) will benefit from having fewer devices to keep track of. Lilly may benefit from saving money on producing fewer syringes.
Net-net, it's probably only a small savings for the pharmaceuticals giant, which did $4.2 billion in Zepbound sales last quarter. The bigger news for Lilly today is Novo's flub on CagriSema.
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Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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