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Sandoz Charts Path to Swift Generic Ozempic Launch in Canada

Richard Saynor Photographer: Pascal Mora/Bloomberg (Pascal Mora/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Sandoz Group AG plans to use the Canadian market as a trial balloon for generic Ozempic, challenging Novo Nordisk A/S with a copycat version as soon as 2026.

The Swiss drugmaker is betting that the existing generation of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs will stay in demand — and that generics will prove popular given the hefty price tags of the branded products — even as Novo and US rival Eli Lilly & Co. push forward with more powerful contenders. 

Sandoz is investing in production to be one of the first sellers of a reliable generic version of semaglutide, the main ingredient in Ozempic, for diabetes in Canada, one of the few countries where it can be sold, according to Chief Executive Officer Richard Saynor.

“Everyone’s excited about second-generation GLP-1s, but current drugs are effective,” the CEO said Tuesday in an interview. “I think these drugs are here to stay for a long time.”

The existing medicines can spur a weight loss of 10% to 15% — enough for most patients — and have shown their power by denting obesity in the US, according to Saynor.

One in Three

Novo’s Wegovy, the version of the drug sold for weight loss rather than diabetes, became available for patients in Canada this year. A generic wouldn’t be introduced for several years after the Ozempic copy, but both medicines share the same active ingredient. 

In Canada, about one in three adults reported being obese in 2022. The country is the second-largest market for semaglutide, according to Saynor. 

Already Wegovy and others like Lilly’s Zepbound are among the most popular medicines ever, but their price tag is keeping them out of reach for some. 

“If the price comes down from, I don’t know, a few hundred or a thousand dollars a month to a few tens of dollars a month, the patient population’s size is insane,” Saynor said. 

Sandoz’s priority is to ensure its copy of semaglutide is safe for patients, he said. 

Wegovy’s patent on semaglutide expires in 2032 in the US and 2031 in Europe, according to Novo. The patent expires in 2026 in China, where a number of local drugmakers are already queuing up to sell generic copies.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.