Aug 8 Reuters Increased manufacturing capacity for Eli Lilly39;s highly sought after weightloss drug Zepbound drove the company to raise its annual sales forecast by 3 billion on Thursday, and its share jumped as much as 14.

Lilly also raised its 2024 profit forecast and said sales of Zepbound crossed 1 billion for the first time in a quarter since its launch in late 2023.

The Zepbound milestone comes after Danish rival Novo Nordisk reported a rare miss on quarterly sales of its weightloss drug Wegovy and trimmed its fullyear profit forecast.

With shares up about 8 at midday to 831 after earlier climbing as high as 877.78, the Indianapolisbased drugmaker was on track to add nearly 55 billion to its market value if stock gains hold. Lilly is already the world39;s most valuable healthcare company primarily due to demand for weightloss treatments.

Lilly Chief Scientific Officer Daniel Skovronsky in an interview said the company had committed more than 18 billion to creating new manufacturing facilities and updating old ones in the U.S. and Europe since 2020.

The company invested 5.3 billion in May on a manufacturing site in Indiana for production of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in both Zepbound and Mounjaro.

We39;re seeing those investments that we39;ve made over the last four years start to come online, including the Research Triangle Park site in North Carolina, and as we do that, that unlocks additional supply, Skovronsky said.

Lilly is steadily escalating…