Generic Semaglutide Launches in India at 50-60% Discount as Patents Expire

Multiple Indian pharmaceutical companies have been approved to sell generic semaglutide following the March expiration of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy patents in India. Dr. Reddy's plans to launch its generic semaglutide at 50% to 60% below brand drug counterparts.

Dr. Reddy's generic Ozempic, marketed as Ampic, has been approved, while approval for its generic Wegovy is still pending. India's largest drugmaker, Sun Pharma, will also market its approved semaglutide products for diabetes and obesity in the country, alongside at least seven other drugmakers with injectable and oral versions.

The launch of India's generic semaglutide signals global GLP-1 pricing and competition, especially as Novo's semaglutide also faces patent losses in Canada, China and Brazil. Steep discounts of 50% or more establish lower price benchmarks in a category projected to reach $80 billion to $100 billion by 2030, strengthening payer leverage in other markets and putting pressure on Novo, Eli Lilly, and emerging GLP-1 competitors.

Cheaper generic GLP-1s may compress long-term market value even if access expands. Lower-cost versions can drive volume growth in high-need markets, but faster-than-expected price erosion across multiple countries could reduce the category's overall revenue potential and raise the bar for next-generation obesity drugs to justify premium pricing.

Earlier this month, Novo Nordisk reported that it saw sales of its diabetes therapy Ozempic decline by 5% in China last year, the first time sales of the medication have fallen since it was approved there in 2021. Sales in all other markets continued to increase, up 9% in the U.S., 17% in Europe and Canada, and 8% for the rest of the Asia-Pacific region.

The CEO stated the company had higher hopes for China. As lower-cost semaglutide generics expand internationally, premium GLP-1 brands will need stronger differentiation to defend pricing, like emphasizing superior outcomes, real-world evidence, and convenience.

More than 100 million Indians now live with obesity, and another 136 million are in the prediabetes range. The genetic "thin-fat" phenotype common among Indians—high abdominal fat at a lower body mass index—meant standard weight-loss approaches missed the core metabolic risk. Abdominal obesity reached 23.7 percent despite lower BMI cut-offs for Asian populations. Projections estimate that 11 percent of Indian adults will be obese by 2035.