More good news for Eli Lilly’s (LLY) diabetes drug Mounjaro.
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A new head-to-head trial with the company’s older diabetes treatment called Trulicity found that Mounjaro has heart health benefits. Executives at Eli Lilly said that Mounjaro met the study’s main goal of showing that it wasn’t any worse than Trulicity at treating people with Type 2 diabetes who also suffer from cardiovascular disease.
Eli Lilly said it believes the new data bolsters the case for Mounjaro to be prescribed for patients with Type 2 diabetes who are twice as likely to have heart disease or stroke as those without the illness. The results come as Trulicity, a longtime best-selling drug for Eli Lilly, faces the expiration of its patent in 2027. Eli Lilly is expected to position Mounjaro as both a diabetes and cardiovascular treatment.
Disappointment?
While Mounjaro met the main goal of the study, which was to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke by 8%, LLY stock fell nearly 2% after the study’s results were released as the findings did not meet some analysts’ benchmarks for being considered better than Trulicity when it comes to heart health and managing cardiovascular disease.
Some clinicians said the trial results were not surprising as Mounjaro was expected to lower the risk of cardiovascular events. Despite some naysayers, Eli Lilly stressed that the trial results show that clinicians should choose Mounjaro to improve cardiovascular outcomes. “This is the right medicine for a patient with Type 2 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes with cardiovascular risk,” said the company.
Eli Lilly plans to submit the heart health data to global regulators by the end of this year, and the company said that could lead to approvals and insurance coverage of Mounjaro for treating cardiovascular disease in 2026.
Is LLY Stock a Buy?
The stock of Eli Lilly has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 19 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 17 Buy and two Hold recommendations issued in the last 12 months. The average LLY price target of $1,028.80 implies 34.85% upside from current levels.
