By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Eli Lilly stock (NYSE:LLY) traded weaker by 1% in premarket Thursday after fourth-quarter results revealed overall pricing pressure in the market.
The fate of its Covid-19 antibody treatment is also an overhang on the stock. The antibody therapies are not currently authorized in any U.S. region, the company said.
The pharmaceutical giant experienced pricing pressure in all its geographies with China accounting for a large part of that, due to policy changes there.
U.S. sales of insulin, Humalog, fell 16% to $602 million on lower realized prices. The company expects competition to weigh on Humalog prices in U.S for longer than it previously expected.
Revenue in the fourth quarter rose 8% to $8 billion, helped by demand for its Covid-19 antibody therapies and diabetes drugs Trulicity and Jardiance, as well as rheumatoid arthritis medication Olumiant.
Trulicity sales jumped 25% to $1.9 billion.
Sales of autoimmune drug Taltz and advanced breast cancer medicine Verzenio were strong too, rising 31% and 43%, respectively.
The company recognized worldwide revenue of $1 billion from Covid-19 antibodies during the quarter compared with $871 million last year. Those sales are under threat now as the Food and Drug Administration has limited the use of those drugs since they were unlikely to work against the Omicron variant.
Excluding revenue from Covid-19 antibodies, the increase in worldwide revenue was 6%.
On an adjusted basis, Lilly reported a quarterly profit of $2.49 per share, beating estimates.