New Delhi: The India launch of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, which are semaglutide in injectable form, depends largely on the drug maker resolving supply issues, a top executive has hinted.
Novo markets the oral form of semaglutide in India under the brand name ‘Rybelsus’ for treatment of adults with type-2 diabetes. The company is yet to get approval for the injectable form of semaglutide, which is sold globally under the brand names ‘Wegovy’ and ‘Ozempic’.
“We don’t want a situation where we launch the drug in India and people are unable to get it,” Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, told ET.
The Danish drug maker, according to Shrotriya, is investing heavily in scaling up production. Shrotriya did not give a timeline for the launch of the drugs in India but said the company is eager to make the medications available in the country.
Shrotriya said Novo may look at possibilities of doing fill-finish of the two drugs in India at a later stage. In India, Novo has a partnership with Torrent Pharma for insulin formulation and packaging.
Both Ozempic and Wegovy are not approved in India. They both contain semaglutide–a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog–and come as injections. While Ozempic is used for diabetes treatment, Wegovy is prescribed to adults and children 12 years and older who have obesity and is available in higher doses compared with Ozempic.
Ozempic has been widely used off-label as a weight-loss drug. In 2023, globally the drugs raked in combined sales of $18.4 billion. Despite their immense popularity, Novo continues to struggle to keep up with the demand.
The company is pumping in billions of dollars to beef up its production capacity. In November last year, it earmarked $6 billion investment for its Denmark operations. The company in June announced a $4.1-billion investment to build its largest production facility in Clayton, North Carolina. It also paid $16.5 billion last year to acquire contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) giant Catalent.
In India, the weight-loss drugs of Novo and Eli Lilly’s ‘Zepbound’ and ‘Mounjaro’ are said to be the most sought after by the wealthy, who are tapping the grey markets for them.
“They are coming with smuggled packets of Mounjaro, or Wegovy or Ozempic from Dubai, London, the United States, navigating the system,” said Shashank Joshi, a renowned Mumbai-based endocrinologist.
“They are just coming to me because they just want to know how to take it properly; if there is an adverse event, how to manage it properly,” said Joshi.
He said even middle-income group people in the 20s and 30s are enquiring about the drug.
Currently, off-label Ozempic costs about Rs 20,000 a month in the grey market, while it is up to Rs 60,000 per month for Mounjaro.
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