Eli Lilly: "Weight loss drug" production capacity won't catch up with demand by 2025.

Eli Lilly, the American pharmaceutical company, is facing a significant challenge: despite their efforts to expand the production capacity of their new diabetes and weight loss drug, Zepbound, the market's strong demand may still be difficult to meet.

In the face of the upcoming supply and demand challenge, Anat Ashkenazi, the Chief Financial Officer of Eli Lilly, revealed that despite the company's largest expansion ever, the supply may still not be able to keep up with the strong market demand at least until 2025.

Zepbound, with its unique position in both diabetes and weight loss, has been a focus of the industry since its approval in the U.S. last November. This drug has not only proven its medical value but also triggered broad social and economic impacts, prompting the company to accelerate its expansion and sign contracts with overseas manufacturers to enhance production capacity.

Last month, Eli Lilly executives stated during the fourth-quarter earnings conference call that the company had achieved its goal of doubling the production capacity of its GLP-1 drugs (both Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss are GLP-1 drugs) by the end of 2023.

Eli Lilly executives mentioned that this year, the company will urgently expand production, with the most significant increase expected in the second half of the year. By then, the production volume of their GLP-1 drugs available for sale will increase by at least 1.5 times compared to the second half of 2023.

Last month, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, the CEO of Novo Nordisk, also warned: "Market demand growth will exceed our production capacity and that of our competitors."

Driven by strong market demand, both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have seen their stock prices double since 2021. Behind the soaring stock prices, investors' great enthusiasm for GLP-1 drugs reflects the market's high expectations for innovative medical solutions.

However, this trend of drug development and supply has also sparked broader social debates: while pursuing quick solutions, should more attention be paid to fundamental changes in unhealthy lifestyles, including improving diet and increasing exercise? In addition, this also raises higher demands on the food industry, advocating for the cessation of promoting unhealthy foods to address the health crisis at a deeper level.