Novo Nordisk India execs urge early Wegovy launch as rival Eli Lilly looms

Novo Nordisk's team in India has been pushing the Danish drugmaker's global leadership for an earlier launch of its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy over fears of falling behind rival Eli Lilly in the potentially huge market, two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters. 

Officials at the Danish drugmaker have said Wegovy might be introduced in India in 2026 once regulatory approvals are in hand and there is sufficient supply. More recently, Novo's India team proposed moving the launch to next year, around the same time Lilly is expected to introduce its weight-loss drug Mounjaro. 

In a closed-door meeting at Novo's Denmark headquarters about two months ago, the India team raised concerns that the company could lag behind Lilly in the domestic market if Wegovy was not launched early, said one of the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. 

Novo declined to comment on internal discussions and Reuters could not determine what response the India-based executives received. 

Wegovy and Novo's diabetes drug Ozempic, which has the same main ingredient, and Mounjaro, belong to a class of therapies known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that help control blood sugar and slow digestion, making people feel fuller for longer. 

The companies have been struggling to meet soaring demand in the US and the few other countries where the drugs have been launched so far. Novo and Lilly are both scaling up production as they vie for a dominant share of a weight-loss market that some analysts forecast could reach $150 billion a year in the next decade. 

Novo received regulatory approval in India for injectable semaglutide - the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic - in late 2022, according to one of the sources. 

"We are working to make Wegovy (semaglutide injection 2.4 milligrams) available as soon as possible. We do not yet have a confirmed date for launch," Novo India said in a statement to Reuters. 

Lilly, in response to a Reuters request, said its 2025 Mounjaro launch is also subject to the supply situation. 

Last month, Novo launched Wegovy in China, the world's second-largest pharmaceuticals market, pricing a month's supply of the starter dose at 1,400 yuan ($193.27), far lower than its US list price of more than $1,300, although most people don't pay that much. 

India's generic drugmakers, including Cipla and Dr Reddy's, are making cheaper copies of Wegovy, with the timing of any launch subject to patent expiry. Sun Pharmaceutical, India's largest drugmaker by revenue, is developing its own experimental GLP weight-loss drug. 

India, a country of more than 1.4 billion people, has seen an increase in the prevalence of obesity. A government survey conducted between 2019 and 2021 showed that 24 per cent of women and nearly 23 per cent of men between the ages of 15 and 49 were either overweight or obese, up from 20.6 per cent of women and 19 per cent of men in 2015-2016. 

Dr. Rishma Pai, a consultant gynaecologist at three hospitals in Mumbai who participated in a Novo survey about attitudes towards obesity, said the company has been reaching out to many types of doctors for a few years to spread awareness about obesity medications and better understand how to promote their acceptance in India. 

Acceptance no longer appears to be an issue. 

"Every patient is asking about these weight-loss injections," Pai said. 

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