Eli Lilly Revenue Falls as Sales of Covid-19 Treatment Wane

For the three months ended June 30, Lilly saw sales of its Covid-19 treatments fall 13% to $129.1 million. The figure reflects sales of both Lilly’s Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment, bebtelovimab, which has held up against the more transmissible Omicron variant and its BA.5 subvariant, as well as earlier treatments bamlanivimab and etesevimab.

The company lowered its full-year adjusted earnings guidance by 25 cents a share to a range of $7.90 a share to $8.05 a share. Lilly maintained its 2022 sales guidance of between $28.8 billion and $29.3 billion, saying that it expects $275 million from a new purchase agreement for bebtelovimab with the U.S. government as well as nongovernment sales of the drug to help offset an estimated $400 million headwind from foreign-exchange effects.

Shares of Lilly fell nearly 4% in premarket trading to $301.40. The stock is up about 14% so far this year.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lilly plans to begin commercial sales of its Covid treatment to states, hospitals and other healthcare providers later this month, as the federal government’s supply dwindles. Lilly said Thursday it plans to make the sales through a sole distributor beginning the week of Aug. 15, prior to the anticipated depletion of the U.S. government’s currently available supply.

The move marks a shift from the way Lilly’s drug and most other Covid-19 treatments and vaccines have been distributed in the U.S. so far during the pandemic. It will likely be the first test of whether the vaccines and treatments would remain accessible if shifted to a commercial market.

Overall, Lilly posted a quarterly profit of $952.5 million, or $1.05 a share, down from $1.39 billion, or $1.53 a share. Adjusted earnings were $1.25 a share, below the $1.70 a share expected by analysts, according to

FactSet.

Sales came in at $6.49 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. The drop was driven by an 11% hit due to lower prices and a 3% decrease from the impact of foreign-exchange rates.

Excluding revenue from Lilly’s Covid-19 antibodies and the cancer drug Alimta, which lost exclusivity in major markets, and the sale of the company’s rights to Cialis in China in the year-ago quarter, worldwide revenue would have risen by 6%, Lilly said.

Lilly’s results come after other makers of Covid-19 vaccines and products posted continued sales growth, but flagged signs of potentially waning demand. Both

Pfizer Inc.

and

Moderna Inc.

posted growth in the recently ended quarter on the backs of their pandemic vaccines, though there were some signs of sales beginning to slow.

Write to Will Feuer at [email protected]

Corrections & Amplifications
Eli Lilly & Co. reported results for its quarter ended June 30. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it had reported results for the three months ended March 31. (Corrected on Aug. 4)

For the three months ended June 30, Lilly saw sales of its Covid-19 treatments fall 13% to $129.1 million. The figure reflects sales of both Lilly’s Covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment, bebtelovimab, which has held up against the more transmissible Omicron variant and its BA.5 subvariant, as well as earlier treatments bamlanivimab and etesevimab.

The company lowered its full-year adjusted earnings guidance by 25 cents a share to a range of $7.90 a share to $8.05 a share. Lilly maintained its 2022 sales guidance of between $28.8 billion and $29.3 billion, saying that it expects $275 million from a new purchase agreement for bebtelovimab with the U.S. government as well as nongovernment sales of the drug to help offset an estimated $400 million headwind from foreign-exchange effects.

Shares of Lilly fell nearly 4% in premarket trading to $301.40. The stock is up about 14% so far this year.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Lilly plans to begin commercial sales of its Covid treatment to states, hospitals and other healthcare providers later this month, as the federal government’s supply dwindles. Lilly said Thursday it plans to make the sales through a sole distributor beginning the week of Aug. 15, prior to the anticipated depletion of the U.S. government’s currently available supply.

The move marks a shift from the way Lilly’s drug and most other Covid-19 treatments and vaccines have been distributed in the U.S. so far during the pandemic. It will likely be the first test of whether the vaccines and treatments would remain accessible if shifted to a commercial market.

Overall, Lilly posted a quarterly profit of $952.5 million, or $1.05 a share, down from $1.39 billion, or $1.53 a share. Adjusted earnings were $1.25 a share, below the $1.70 a share expected by analysts, according to

FactSet.

Sales came in at $6.49 billion, compared with analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. The drop was driven by an 11% hit due to lower prices and a 3% decrease from the impact of foreign-exchange rates.

Excluding revenue from Lilly’s Covid-19 antibodies and the cancer drug Alimta, which lost exclusivity in major markets, and the sale of the company’s rights to Cialis in China in the year-ago quarter, worldwide revenue would have risen by 6%, Lilly said.

Lilly’s results come after other makers of Covid-19 vaccines and products posted continued sales growth, but flagged signs of potentially waning demand. Both

Pfizer Inc.

and

Moderna Inc.

posted growth in the recently ended quarter on the backs of their pandemic vaccines, though there were some signs of sales beginning to slow.

Write to Will Feuer at [email protected]

Corrections & Amplifications
Eli Lilly & Co. reported results for its quarter ended June 30. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it had reported results for the three months ended March 31. (Corrected on Aug. 4)