Eli Lilly’s top-selling GLP-1 drugs,
Mounjaro and Zepbound, have transformed the company, increasing sales by nearly
60% since 2022 and driving its stock price up 268% over the past three years.
With a market cap of $823 billion, Lilly is now the largest healthcare company
in history. This financial success has given the company the resources to
target diseases that many pharmaceutical firms avoid due to high costs and
uncertain returns. Chief Scientific Officer Dan Skovronsky has emphasized
Lilly’s commitment to tackling health issues that are “hiding in plain sight,”
such as Alzheimer’s, ALS, chronic pain, heart disease, and addiction. By
reinvesting its obesity drug profits into these complex medical challenges,
Lilly aims to create long-term value for both patients and investors.
Lilly is also investing heavily in
genetic medicine, an area facing major financial and scientific hurdles. In
2023, the company opened the $700 million Lilly Institute for Genetic Medicine
in Boston to advance gene therapy, despite industry-wide struggles in drug
delivery methods. If Lilly can overcome these challenges, it could lead to a
new wave of high-value treatments. This strategy highlights a key lesson:
reinvesting profits into high-risk, high-reward innovation can drive long-term
financial growth while addressing critical public health issues. The success of
Lilly’s investments will depend on scientific breakthroughs, but if they pay
off, they could reshape both medicine and the pharmaceutical market.
source : https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/20/eli-lilly-to-take-big-swings-in-alzheimers-als-and-gene-therapy.html
2 comments:
I always find these types of businesses interesting because on one hand they are claiming to "tackle" the problem, but from a profit standpoint to diminish a source of income (curing a health issue) is not very smart. I think it will be interesting to see how their client base changes as they help their existing customer base while also looking into the future.
Eli Lilly’s decision to reinvest its obesity drug profits into high-risk diseases is a smart and bold move. Instead of just focusing on what makes the most money now, they are looking at long-term impact by tackling diseases like Alzheimer’s and ALS.
Their investment in genetic medicine is also exciting, though it comes with big challenges. If they succeed, they could change the future of medicine. But if these risks don’t pay off, other companies might be less willing to take similar chances.
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