NEW DELHI: India’s pharmaceutical industry has started rolling out generic versions of Ozempic following patent expiry, with companies entering the market to offer the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medication at a fraction of the original price.
Developed by the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in 2017, Ozempic is a medicine initially approved for use in diabetes treatment, which later became known globally after demand surged for its weight-loss effects.
For several years, Novo Nordisk held a patent on semaglutide — the drug’s active ingredient — but those protections expired on March 20, allowing local drugmakers to produce their own versions, some of which were already available in pharmacies the next day.
Semaglutide injections of several local companies, including Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dr. Reddy’s, Alkem Laboratories, and Zydus, were already available for order at popular Indian pharmacies on Sunday, with prices per one weekly dose starting at $15.
For comparison, the out-of-pocket cost of one dose of the original Ozempic in India is between $20 and $50. For comparison, it is about $220 in the US and $30 in Europe.
With the lower price expanding access to the medicine, more doctors are likely to start prescribing it to both their diabetic patients and those seeking weight management. Earlier, many were unwilling to suggest the treatment to their patients as it was too expensive.
“The access is going to become more democratized. Initially, it was for the elite,” Dr. Neelesh Kapoor from the Advanced Center for Diabetes, Thyroid and Obesity in Noida told Arab News.
“Demand is expected to increase. Initially, there was physician inertia as well … I believe that now more and more doctors will start prescribing it because of the affordability.”
The immediate entry of generics into the Indian market became possible as soon as the patent expired because pharmaceutical companies had applied in advance for approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, the country’s drug regulator. Some had already announced in January that they had received clearance.
The prices are likely to further drop as more producers are joining the race, with some like Hyderabad-based NATCO Pharma announcing that their Ozempic generic — set to launch in April — will cost about $14 a month.
“All these manufacturers, they were just waiting for it to go off patent,” Dr. Kapoor said. “They have already made their plans, so they’re launching in sequence, and they are just trying to strengthen their supply chain.”
