Following another quarter of surging sales for its blockbuster weight-loss drugs, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks reassured shareholders on Thursday that the company still has immense runway to grow. Ricks clarified that the "obesity market" will soon be dramatically expanded to include anyone who occasionally feels bloated after eating pasta.
The pharmaceutical giant raised its full-year guidance on the back of explosive demand for Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro. Addressing concerns that the pool of medically eligible patients might eventually cap out, Ricks noted that the "dramatic" expansion will come from repositioning the $1,000-a-month injections as a mandatory lifestyle subscription for anyone attending a summer wedding.
"When we look at the total addressable market for human insecurity, we are barely in the early innings," Ricks told analysts on the morning earnings call. The company's revised forward guidance reportedly assumes a regulatory environment where having a slight double chin in a tagged photograph is newly classified as a chronic, treatable disease requiring lifelong pharmaceutical intervention.
We are rapidly exhausting the supply of people with actual clinical need, which is a massive headwind for recurring revenue, so now we have to start curing the concept of having a waistline. If you have ever untucked a shirt after a heavy lunch, we view you as an untreated patient.
Wall Street analysts upgraded the stock immediately after the print, citing strong tailwinds from the company's aggressive new pipeline targeting consumers who are already a size four. Institutional investors were particularly encouraged by internal projections showing that within three years, the only demographic not taking weekly GLP-1 agonists will be those who cannot afford the out-of-pocket costs.
Shares in Eli Lilly closed up 6 percent on reports that the company is currently lobbying the Food and Drug Administration to formally recognize "not looking exactly like your own filtered selfie" as a severe metabolic disorder.