The Big Pharma fix

Weight-loss drugs will not help India unless measures are taken to promote healthy diet and lifestyle

- VIBHA VARSHNEY

INDIA IS fast emerging as a lucrative market for weight-loss drugs, and for a reason. The country confronts an epidemic of obesity. If one goes by the estimates of a study published in the medical journal The Lancet in March, almost one-third of the country's population would be obese by 2050. Even the conservative estimates by the latest National Family Health Survey for 2019-21, show that 24 per cent women and 23 per cent men in the country are overweight or obese. To cater to this burgeoning market, two pharmaceutical firms—US-based Eli Lilly and Company and Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk—have been for the past several months vying to roll out their blockbuster drugs that help manage both diabetes and obesity. On March 21, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) approved one of the firms, Eli Lilly, to market its drug tirzepatide in India for “Type 2 diabetes” and “weight management”.

The drug, now available in India under brand name Mounjaro, is a solution for injection in single-dose vials of 2.5 mg and 5 mg, and is priced at ₹3,500 and ₹4,375. One who wishes to use this once-weekly drug has to spend between ₹14,000 and ₹17,500 per month. Mounjaro, which made its debut in the US in 2022, mentions on its website that the drug is meant “For adults with Type 2 diabetes” and that it is “not a weight loss drug”. For “chronic weight management”, Eli Lilly sells tirzepatide injection under trade name Zepbound, which received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2023 and is not available in India as yet.