Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk compete in India’s rising weight-loss drug market

Demand for weight-loss medicine is rising at a quick clip in India, the place rivals Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are competing for market share, information from analysis agency Pharmarack confirmed on Monday.

Lilly’s Mounjaro, launched in late March, doubled its gross sales in June to 87,986 items or 260 million rupees ($3.03 million) in comparison with Might, Pharmarack stated. Between March and Might, Lilly had offered 81,570 Mounjaro items in India.

In the meantime, Novo offered 1,788 items of Wegovy in India since its late-June launch with 25.3 million rupees in gross sales, Pharmarack stated.

The incidence of weight problems and diabetes is rising in India, the world’s most populous nation, which additionally ranks among the many worst three globally for prime weight problems charges, in accordance with a examine revealed within the medical journal The Lancet.

The Indian weight problems drug market has grown fivefold since 2021 and is valued at 6.28 billion rupees, in accordance with the analysis agency.

Affordability and willingness to attempt new medicine for weight problems have propelled the expansion of the market, Pharmarack’s Vice President (Industrial) Sheetal Sapale stated.

Wegovy’s lively ingredient, semaglutide, dominates the market with a two-thirds share in India, whereas Mounjaro’s lively ingredient, tirzepatide, has captured 8% of the market, Pharmarack stated.

As of June, the semaglutide market in India was valued at 4.12 billion rupees, and tirzepatide at 500 million rupees, the analysis agency stated.

Novo has offered oral variations of semaglutide for diabetes in India since 2022.

Semaglutide will lose patent safety in India in 2026, and generic drugmakers are aiming to provide cheaper variations of Wegovy as India turns into a key battleground for drugmakers looking for to seize a share of the worldwide weight problems market.

Novo and Lilly’s medicine assist management blood sugar and gradual digestion, making customers really feel fuller for longer.

($1 = 85.9200 Indian rupees)