India Opens the Door to Affordable Ozempic
For years, a single weekly injection of Ozempic cost patients in India anywhere between $20 and $50, a price that quietly kept millions of people from accessing one of the world’s most talked-about medicines. That changed almost overnight, according to Arab News.
On March 20, the patent protecting semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, officially expired. Within 24 hours, generic versions produced by Indian pharmaceutical giants Sun Pharma, Dr. Reddy’s, Alkem Laboratories, and Zydus had already appeared on pharmacy shelves. The price? As low as $15 per weekly dose.
Ozempic was originally developed by Danish company Novo Nordisk in 2017 to treat type 2 diabetes. It later gained enormous global attention when patients and celebrities alike began using it for weight loss. But its steep price, roughly $220 per dose in the United States, made it a luxury for most.
India’s pharmaceutical industry had been preparing quietly for this moment. Companies applied to the country’s drug regulator, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, well in advance. Some had already received approval by January. They were, as one doctor put it, simply “waiting for it to go off patent.”
The human impact could be significant. Dr. Neelesh Kapoor, a specialist in diabetes and obesity, described how many physicians had previously hesitated to prescribe the drug because patients simply could not afford it. “The access is going to become more democratized,” he said. “Initially, it was for the elite.”
Prices are expected to fall even further. NATCO Pharma has announced a version launching in April priced at just $14 per month, a dramatic shift that could reshape how doctors across India approach diabetes and weight management care.
A blockbuster drug just became a little more human.
