Lilly manufactures tirzepatide, which is sold under the brand name Mounjaro as a type 2 diabetes treatment. It's the chronic nature of obesity that will make these drugs so profitable, analysts have said. Huynh increased his target due to higher expectations for Mounjaro sales this year. Huynh boosted his prediction for the drug's sales this year to $3.7 billion from an prior estimate of $2.7 billion. "$48 billion is a monster number," Holz said, referring to an annual sales estimate that Bank of America has floated for future Mounjaro sales.

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