Novo Nordisk slashes Ozempic, Wegovy prices as generic competition heats up

Mumbai: Innovator Novo Nordisk on Tuesday said it is reducing the starting dose prices for its semaglutide brands Ozempic and Wegovy by 36% and 48%, respectively. It will also offer an average price reduction of 23.8% for Ozempic and 27% for Wegovy across doses. The move comes only weeks after the drugmaker lost patent exclusivity for its type-2 diabetes and weight-loss drug semaglutide on 20 March, triggering an onslaught of cheaper generics in India.

The starting dose for Ozempic and Wegovy (0.25 mg) will be available at ₹1,415 per week or ₹5,660 per month under the new pricing, which will come into effect 1 April. Currently, the price of Wegovy is approximately ₹10,850– ₹16,400 per month, while that for Ozempic is around ₹8,800– ₹11,175 a month.

In a press release, the company said it has cut prices “to make these innovative therapies, that are supported by robust clinical evidence and high scientific standards, more accessible to a larger section of people living with diabetes and obesity in India.”

“By revising the price of our innovative treatments, we’re trying to make best-in-class cardiometabolic care more affordable for as many people with type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity in India as possible. We’ve heard from patients and doctors, and we’re acting on that feedback,” Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India said in the release.

Rush of copies

Semaglutide, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist used to treat type-2 diabetes and chronic weight management. After Novo lost patent exclusivity, India's pharmaceutical giants brought in a rush of cheaper synthetic copies priced 50-90% cheaper.

Novo had also slashed its US listing price for the semaglutide brands by up to 50% earlier this year, amid intensifying competition.

The company is banking on its innovator edge, with its drug being backed by clinical trials and manufactured using superior rDNA technology, as opposed to generics that are chemically synthesized and require bioequivalence studies to show they are therapeutically equivalent to the innovator drug, as opposed to clinical trials.

Novo Nordisk is facing competition from generic makers not just on the pricing front, but also through aggressive marketing tactics. On Monday, the drugmaker settled a trademark dispute with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, after the latter attempted to launch its semaglutide drug under brand name ‘Olymviq’, which Novo alleged was phonetically similar to its trademark Ozempic.

India, with its rising obesity rates and diabetes prevalence, is a key market for GLP-1s. According to a 2023 Indian Council of Medical Research-India Diabetes (ICMR-INDIAB) study, India has 254 million people with generalized obesity and 351 million with abdominal obesity. Over 101 million people in India are living with type-2 diabetes, according to the study.