Feb 6 Reuters Eli Lilly on Tuesday forecast 2024 profit above Wall Street estimates on soaring demand for its recently approved weightloss drug, and said the treatment helped reduce symptoms of a common, difficult to treat fatty liver disease in a midstage trial.

Sales of obesity drug Zepbound reached 175.8 million in the first few weeks of its launch in early December, after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November.

Shares of the Indianapolisbased drugmaker jumped nearly 5 in premarket trading after gaining about 11 in January, making Lilly the eighth largest company in the U.S. by market capitalization and most valuable healthcare company.

I guess, I was most surprised by the sales of Zepbound. I wouldn39;t have expected near that much, said Troy Harmon, Chief Investment Officer at Henssler Financial.

Lilly said it will expand its manufacturing, but given the time required to bring new capacity fully online, it expects demand for its diabetes and obesity drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound to outpace supply in 2024.

Lilly and its main rival in the obesity market, Novo Nordisk, are both testing their treatments for other health benefits such as obstructive sleep apnea and chronic kidney disease to secure wider coverage for the medicines.

Explosive demand for Mounjaro, which had also been used off label for weight loss, and now Zepbound, has led to a buying spree of Lilly39;s stock, propelling the drugmaker39;s market value to over 600 billion….