India is launching cheap, weight-loss drugs and Novo Nordisk is betting on its brands to stay on top

First wave of generic versions Novo Nordisk GLP-1 weight loss drugs were launched in India over the weekend, with at least five domestic drugmakers slashing the original price by up to 80%. This comes as the Danish drugmaker’s patent expires on Friday and the company struggles to maintain its lead in the lucrative market.

India is a critical market with a population of approximately 100 million. people living with diabetes and almost a quarter are classified as obese. The country is also known as the “pharmacy of the world” with its advanced pharmacy. generic pharmaceutical industry supply approximately 20% of global off-patent medicines.

Gunes PharmaceuticalsOne of the world’s largest generic drug manufacturers on Saturday one started generic semaglutide sells for as little as 750 rupees ($8) for a weekly injection, or about 3,400 rupees a month. This compares to Novo’s retail price of Rs 8,800 to Rs 10,000 in India. depending on dose.

Meanwhile, export-oriented Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories so far Semaglutide launched for diabetes treatment It costs around Rs 4,200 per month and plans to expand into Canada, Türkiye and Brazil this year.

Dr. The company’s goal is to democratize access to GLP-1 drugs worldwide, Reddy’s Pharmaceutical Services and API CEO Deepak Sapra said at a virtual launch event on Saturday. It targets annual sales of 12 million semaglutide pens in the first year of launch in all markets, including India.

“This is something that Indian generic players have been preparing for for a very long time,” India-based independent pharmaceutical consultant Salil Kallianpur told CNBC.

More than 50 brands are expected to launch generic versions of semaglutide in the coming months. Kallianpur said it is small by Indian standards due to the relative complexity of making such drugs with stricter quality controls.

While semaglutide is protected from generic competition in the US, by far its largest market, until 2032, patents expiring this year in India, Canada, Brazil and China are likely to have a sizable impact on its revenues. In Novo in February It warned that sales could fall by 5% to 13% in 2026.

Novo in December last year Reduced the price of Wegovy According to Reuters, there was a 37% increase from the launch price in India before the patent expired.

Analysts told CNBC that Novo needs to lower prices in India to maintain its market share. Vishal Manchanda, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at Systematix Group, said Novo could have a large share of the market if it maintains a 15-20% premium over generic versions.

Sydbank analyst Søren Løntoft Hansen said generic registrations will impact Novo’s sales in India, but it is not yet clear whether the Danish drugmaker will lose its leading position.

Novo has historically maintained its leading market share despite losing patent protection. The company has been a leading insulin manufacturer since its founding a century ago and has continued to dominate the market while still selling at a premium to its generic competitors. Hansen said generic manufacturers are trying to increase production to challenge Novo’s dominance.

Novo is confident in its ability to retain users in India. “Our size, technology and complete maintenance ecosystem justify the price we charge after a 37% discount,” Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, told CNBC’s “Inside India” on Friday.

Kallianpur said Novo had “turned a mistake into an opportunity” as it had launched popular obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment drug Ozempic in India after Lilly launched rivals Mounjaro and Zepbound, but came at a much lower price and is now launching the second brands.

While Wegovy is launched as Poviztra through a partnership with Emcure Pharma, Ozempic is marketed as Extensior in collaboration with Abbott India. These partners build deep connections with pharmacies and doctors across the country, increasing the drugmaker’s reach.

This is a classic strategy to defend a premium brand against cheaper generics, Kallianpur said, adding that Novo relies heavily on its reputation. “A brand is essentially a moat.”

Sun Pharma and Dr. Reddy is launching semaglutide at about 50% below Novo’s original prices, while smaller domestically focused manufacturers such as Natco Pharma and Alkem Laboratories are offering higher discounts of up to almost 80%.

Natco Pharma’The price of the vial formulation is 1,250 rupees per month one of the most affordable options Meanwhile in the market Alkem Laboratories It has launched pre-filled semaglutide injections with the lowest price starting from 1,800 rupees per month.

Alkem aims to “make this product accessible to more patients in need” through a combination of affordable pricing and “extensive distribution in smaller cities in India,” the company’s CEO, Vikas Gupta, told CNBC in an email.

According to data from Indian market intelligence firm Pharmarack, sales of GLP-1 drugs have increased rapidly in the country; The rolling annual turnover in February increased by 178% compared to the previous year, reaching 14.46 billion rupees.

Despite the growing popularity of these GLP-1 drugs in India, price remains a major deterrent factor. Diabetes specialist Rajiv Kovil said about 50 percent of his patients can benefit from GLP-1 drugs, but only 5 percent are currently using them.

The Mumbai-based diabetes expert acknowledged that there was no official indication of a new round of price cuts from Novo or Eli Lilly, but said “Novo will bite the bullet eventually.”

In the meantime, he plans to wait for more evidence on the effectiveness and availability of new generic drugs before switching his patients from Novo and Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs.

GLP-1 drugs, such as semaglutide, are peptide-based drugs that require specialized technology for production and distribution, including a cold chain for storage, making their production more complex. This is unlike most drugs like painkillers and antibiotics produced in India.

“You have to be really careful about quality control, because these molecules are much more complex than aspirin, for example,” Knud Jensen, professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen and President of the European Peptide Society, told CNBC.

“These larger molecules are more difficult to quality control than smaller molecules,” he said. “The molecule given to patients needs to be perfect and free of any byproducts or contaminants.”

But Kallianpur said many people underestimate the progress made by Indian drugmakers in the last 10 years.