The launch of Eli Lilly ‘s weight-loss drug Zepbound — a key pillar of our investment thesis in the pharmaceuticals giant — is going swimmingly in the U.S., Jefferies said Friday. Weekly Zepbound prescriptions totaled 7,700 in the week ended Dec. 8, its fourth on the U.S. market, according to Jefferies, which cited data compiled by health-care analytics firm IQVIA. That is more than Novo Nordisk ‘s Wegovy — currently the most popular obesity drug in the country — had in its fourth week after being approved in 2021, Jefferies concluded. “Zepbound has shown strong launch momentum in the weeks following its first prescription recorded,” the analysts wrote in a research note. That’s an encouraging finding for investors, given it will be more than a month before Eli Lilly reports earnings with formal revenue contributions from its much-hyped obesity drug. The Club holding typically reports fourth-quarter results in late January or early February. To be sure, it has been showing up indirectly in Lilly’s revenue for more than a year because some people have been taking Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro off-label for weight loss. Mounjaro and Zepbound share an active ingredient called tirzepatide. Nevertheless, we’ve been awaiting clues on the Zepbound rollout because the drug is such an important part to our multiyear investment in Eli Lilly. Jim Cramer has said tirzepatide — encompassing diabetes, weight loss and possibly other treatment indications in the coming years— could become the best-selling drug of all time. While Jefferies analysts are right to caution that “data over longer periods is required to build confidence in a sustained growth trajectory,” it appears to be so far, so good for Zepbound. Eli Lilly’s efforts to invest heavily to expand manufacturing capacity should help ensure the trajectory doesn’t stall out due to shortages. LLY YTD mountain Eli Lilly’s year-to-date stock performance. It took Wegovy seven weeks to reach Zepbound’s…
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