Eli Lilly (LLY) -) shares slumped lower Monday after it posted data from a trial of its Zepbound obesity treatment showing patients gained substantial weight when they stopped taking the new drug.
Eli Lilly said patients given regular injections of of trizepatide, which the drugmaker brands as Zepbound, benefited from an average weight loss of around 20.9% from a starting average of around 236.6 pounds over the course of the 36-week study.
However, once the treatment ended and patients were switched to a placebo, they saw an average weight regain of around 14.8% over the following year. Those who continued with the drug lost another 5.5% in weight, according to data from the Surmount-4 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"Patients, providers and the public do not always understand obesity is a chronic disease that often requires ongoing treatment, which can mean that treatment is stopped once weight goals are met," said Eli Lilly's senior vice president for product development, Jeff Emmick.
"However, studies like Surmount-4 show that continued therapy can help people living with obesity maintain their weight loss."
Lilly Q3 was stronger than expected
Eli Lilly shares were marked 3.1% lower in early afternoon trading following publication of the trial results to change hands at $579.38, a move that still leaves the stock up nearly 30% over the past six months.
Last month Lilly posted better-than-expected third-quarter earnings thanks to the ongoing surge in sales for Mounjaro, its anti-obesity drug targeted for type-2 diabetes sufferers. That strength offset a slump in revenue for its legacy diabetes treatment Trulicity.
Trulicity saw sales fell 10% from a year earlier to $1.67 billion while Taltz, its drug that fights severe plaque psoriasis, saw sales rise 9% to $744.2 million.
Mounjaro and Zepbound, which Eli Lilly hopes can challenge the early market dominance of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, produced sales of $1.41 billion.
Looking into the current financial year, Eli Lilly said non-GAAP earnings would likely slow to between to between $6.50 and $6.70 per share. That's down from its prior forecast of $9.70 to $9.90 per share, thanks in part to a surge in in-process research and development costs.
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