In India, A Gold Rush For Weight Loss Drugs

Lured by a global rage, Indian drug makers are eyeing fat profits from GLP-1 drugs

- T. Surendar & Jessica Jani

MUMBAI In late May, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company from Hyderabad, sprang a surprise. It filed a patent challenge against Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, for its popular weight loss drug semaglutide.

Novo Nordisk filed for two patent applications in India—in 2006, which expired in September 2024, and another in 2007, which is set to expire in March 2026. Dr. Reddy's has challenged the second patent, contending that it lacks novelty.

Pharma companies often file follow-on patents with claims of modifications to the original compound and its derivative forms. The follow-on patents allow drug developers to extend their market monopoly and halt generic competition for longer. Generic versions are cheaper copies of the original drug.

Dr. Reddy's, obviously, is in a hurry to launch a generic version. A win for the company will upend the plans of more than a dozen local pharmaceutical firms, all of whom are eyeing a slice of the estimated $25 billion Indian weight loss market.

No prescription drug in recent memory has captured the imagination of Indian patients as much as semaglutide. Or for that matter globally. In 2024, sold under three brand names—Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus—semaglutide is the second most prescribed drug in the world, notching sales of $29 billion annually.

A more recently launched competing brand, Mounjaro, by US-headquartered drug maker Eli Lilly, grew 123% in 2024 to $11.5 billion and is already among the top 10 drugs in the world, according to Drug Discovery & Development, a pharmaceutical industry news website.

"It's a big opportunity. It's a product that comes once in a while in the pharma cycle, and perhaps a product that people are a lot more aware of, much before its launch," Umang Vohra, managing director and global CEO of Cipla, told journalists during an interaction last month.