Novo Nordisk brings Ozempic to India for type 2 diabetes treatment

New Delhi: Danish pharma major Novo Nordisk on Friday launched its blockbuster type 2 diabetes treatment injection Ozempic, globally popular for its weight-loss benefits.

Ozempic is now available in India as 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg in 'FlexTouch Pen' - an easy-to-use, once-weekly pen device, at a starting cost of Rs 2,200 per week, the company announced here.

Novo Nordisk India Managing Director, Vikrant Shrotriya, said through Ozempic, the company is looking to provide patients with an innovative and accessible therapy for the treatment of type 2 diabetes while also offering meaningful weight management and long-term heart and kidney protection.

"We are very judicious in terms of pricing in India. It really remains very competitive, internally and externally as well, to offer at a price like this," Shrotriya told PTI when asked how Ozempic pricing in India compares with other global markets.

"I would say that it still comes under the affordability zone of the pricing, which is at a range for countries similar to India." Novo Nordisk is marketing Ozempic purely as a treatment for type II diabetes in India, he added.

"We applied for type 2 diabetes. We got (approval from the drug regulator in India) for it," he noted.

In terms of Ozempic distribution in India, Shrotriya said Novo Nordisk is going alone to make it available across the country.

The company's partnership with Emcure Pharma will remain strictly for weight loss medicine Poviztra, semaglutide injection 2.4 mg, the second brand of Wegovy in India, he added.

Asked about the market opportunity for Ozempic in India, Shrotriya said it was difficult to estimate, as globally also, predicting it for the medicine has proven to be tough, with demand exceeding the supply.

One of the reasons for Ozempic being launched late in India was also to do with ensuring uninterrupted supplies, he said, adding that the injection would be imported from Denmark, where it is produced.

"We remain very agile and very flexible in terms of our supply chain to service India," he said.

With the patent for injectable semaglutide expiring next year, he said the company is prepared for competition as generic players are expected to enter the market and is confident that its product quality and brand equity will make patients choose its product.

Ozempic (injectable semaglutide) is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise for adults living with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) once a week.

Citing World Health Organisation 2023-24 estimates, the company said India has 101 million (roughly 11.4 per cent of its population) people living with diabetes, making it the second largest diabetes-affected population in the world after China.

The country also has 136 million individuals with prediabetes and 254 million people living with generalised obesity, signalling an accelerating health challenge that requires effective, evidence-based therapies, it added.