Andrew Silver
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Novo Nordisk mentioned on Tuesday its in style weight reduction drug Wegovy has been accredited in China, paving the best way for gross sales on the planet’s second-largest financial system.
Novo mentioned in March it will initially goal Chinese language sufferers keen to pay out of pocket for weekly injections of the drug.
The corporate didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for touch upon when gross sales would start, how the drug could be priced and the way a lot it deliberate to ship to China.
Novo Nordisk could have a lot much less time to take full benefit of its first-mover benefit in weight-loss medication within the Chinese language market.
The patent on its semaglutide, a key ingredient utilized in Wegovy and its diabetes drug Ozempic, is about to run out in China in lower than two years, and native drugmakers are racing to develop generic variations.
Compared, patents in Europe and Japan expire in 2031, and in america in 2032.
Novo additionally faces competitors from rival Eli Lilly (NYSE: ), whose diabetes drug tezepatide was accredited in China in Could. Some analysts anticipate the U.S. firm’s weight-loss drug Zepound, which has the identical lively ingredient, to be accredited in China this 12 months or within the first half of 2025.
Based on a 2020 research by the Chinese language Public, the variety of chubby adults in China is predicted to achieve 540 million by 2030, a 2.8-fold improve from 2000, whereas the variety of overweight adults is predicted to extend 7.5-fold to 150 million.
Ozempic was accredited in China in 2021, and Novo’s gross sales of the drug in Better China doubled to 4.8 billion Danish kroner ($698 million) final 12 months.
