Eli Lilly has a major problem with its weight loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro

Eli Lilly, the maker of the popular slimming drug Zepbound, revealed what Bloomberg appointed a “shocking first miss” in its latest quarterly sales announcement: Despite the bottomless hype, there just aren’t enough people taking its new weight-loss drugs.

Shares fell nearly eight percent on Wednesday, with Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro — the active ingredient in both is tirzepatide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist — missing Wall Street estimates by nearly $900 million in sales.

This despite astronomical fanfare around weight loss drugs like Zepbound and its competitors like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy. Medicines are amazingly successful in both regards health result and market penetration — but somehow that’s not enough for the gaping expectations of capitalism.

Eli Lilly pointed the finger at inventory issues, an excuse that didn’t sit well with analysts.

“Few expected a miss to this extent,” said Jared Holz of Mizuho Financial Group Bloomberg.

“With such high demand for these drugs, the reduction in stocks is a surprise,” he added, referring to a situation where wholesalers rely on previously purchased stocks instead of buying new stock.

In other words, could this be a sign that the seemingly insatiable demand for popular weight loss drugs may be starting to wane?

Not surprisingly, Eli Lilly CFO Lucas Montarce tried to reassure investors, saying he doesn’t expect more “big swings” in the stock going forward.

The company’s competitors faced a similar problem. For example, Novo Nordisk was forced to do it to reduce their annual profit expectations in August after weaker-than-expected sales of its weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which both use a different GLP-1 agonist drug called semaglutide.

Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told investors during a call after the announcement that there wasn’t a “demand issue here,” but revealed that the company will begin marketing Zepbound specifically to consumers, according to Bloomberg.

Meanwhile, the lack of supply of weight loss drugs like Zepbound and Ozempic has led to a increasing the sale of copycat “compound” drugsespecially online.

Of course, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk tried to discredit these companies, warning that their offers they contained impurities and were contaminated by bacteria.

Despite the growing pains, however, the overall trajectory for GLP-1 drug vendors is still promising; Overall, shares of Eli Lilly are up well over 50 percent since the start of the year.

More on weight loss drugs: Patients taking Ozempic are up to 70 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, research shows