Ozempic has to be the word of the year, paid marketing aside. The drug meant for treating type-2 diabetes has held the curiosity of health and lifestyle enthusiasts looking to drop significant weight.
By the admission of Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, the drug is set to rewrite the health and disease risk on par with artificial intelligence’s impact on the world. He calls it a watershed moment, akin to the discovery of penicillin and antibiotics which changed the history of medicine in general.
The wonder drug, which falls under the class of semaglutides, was cleared for use in adults with type-2 diabetes (insulin deficient diabetes / non-genetic) in September this year. The drug, manufactured by Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, was finally launched in India on Friday as a weekly sub-cutaneous injection starting with a dosage of 0.25 mg for the first four weeks, followed by escalating dosage of up to 2 mg per week, on a case-to-case basis.
Shrotriya announced that the drug will be priced at Rs 2,200 per week (inclusive of taxes) for a dosage of 0.25 mg, at the launch. He added that the drug will now be available at a price comparable to insulin, making it accessible to patients across the spectrum.
Abbott India, which already distributes Novo Nordisk’s insulin product Human Mixtard, will be offering its end-to-end cold-chain service to distribute Ozempic across India. “If Human Mixtard is available, then our medicines are available there too,” said Shrotriya in an interview with Forbes India.
The drug enters the Indian market at a time when its patent is set to expire by March 2026 in India, opening up the market to cheaper generic competitors including those manufactured by Dr Reddy’s and Sun Pharma. Novo Nordisk has already taken these Indian pharma companies to court to ensure that their semaglutides are not launched in the market before its patent expiry, and to stop the export of the competitors’ products to other geographies where its patent has expired. However, the Delhi High Court refused to grant an interim injunction on Novo Nordisk’s plea to stop the exports of Dr Reddy’s semaglutides, while the plea against Sun Pharma’s exports has been referred to a bench.
Novo Nordisk’s late entry into the Indian market with its weight-loss specific semaglutide injection, WeGovy, has already cost it market leadership. As of October 2025, international competitor Eli Lilly’s weight-loss semaglutide drug Mounjaro became India’s top-selling drug by value. Novo Nordisk reacted by reducing the price of WeGovy by nearly 37 percent to increase accessibility.
Shrotriya is not worried by these going-ons as he believes that the pharma manufacturers are merely at the start of the journey and “there isn’t much to lose”. In the spirit of the season, he calls it “the more the merrier”, as the greater fight is against the disease.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
Q. What took so long to launch Ozempic in the Indian market? How have you worked on the challenges?
One of the reasons we didn't launch was because we wanted to ensure steady supply so that there should not be patients who get initiated and then don't have the medication.
So we have now got reliability on the supplier with an uninterrupted supply from our headquarters when it comes to the new (geographical) launches, including India. And that's the reason we have been able to launch now.
However, I don't have a crystal ball to see what the demand from potential 100 million patients in India would look like or due to an increase in the number of doctors prescribing it. But I think we are sufficiently covered for any unforeseen circumstances which can occur in terms of the demand and supply, and that's the reason we have launched.
Q. How much of the supply of Ozempic for new markets will be channelled to India? How have you mapped it?
If I try to forecast it, I definitely know that it's only seven months of injectable semaglutides in the market. It's not even the tip of the iceberg.
A lot of work must go into improving access and accessibility collectively by healthcare providers, by pharmacy chains, by governments, in terms of advocacy for better health for India.
I think it is just a starting point, and now when will be that tipping point when it can start multiplying, I think that is left a little bit to the imagination. But we are geared up to service India.
Also Read: Indian pharma catching up to Ozempic, Mounjaro demand
Q. The launch of Ozempic comes very close to the expiry of Novo Nordisk’s patent in India in March 2026. What kind of competition do you anticipate from Indian pharma’s semaglutide offerings?
It is just incidental that we are launching just ahead of the LOE (loss of exclusivity). This is all happening after deliberations of nearly a year and a half, there are regulatory approvals and data submissions, etc.
For any innovation there is a life cycle with LOE and it is very common for any medication. We are at the start of the journey and there is nothing much to lose. In fact, there is much to build. Right now only 100,000 patients are able to access semaglutides. For that I would say, more the merrier but we look forward to the kind of commitment, seriousness, patient-centricity, quality standards and ethical standards they come with. We welcome them (Indian pharma companies) to join us in the fight against obesity. We would like to win against obesity rather than lose against each other. The numbers game should be against the disease.
Having said that, we would like to fight from a pole position and lead the fight. Doctors prescribe us not only for our pricing but for the trust, patient advocacy, education and for working together. I think these factors count for a lot for overall access to the medication.
Q. How do you see the market leadership evolving in the semaglutides space?
This is a dynamic scenario and there are some things we do not know about the therapy yet. We do not know what new solutions will emerge in the space from our laboratories or from the competitors over the next four to five years, how many generic players will enter the market and what their capabilities will be.
However, the focus is not market share. What matters more is whether more patients receive treatment when they can’t manage through diet and exercise alone to control diabetes or obesity. The goalpost for us is broader patient access, not market share.
Q. How are you looking to position Ozempic in the market as it has also been wildly popular even among non-diabetics for weight loss?
It is a semaglutide from the house of Novo Nordisk and we have huge respect for 100 years of protein chemistry. And what we know is to build protein molecules with trusted quality standards and reliability for a century.
Ozempic comes from Novo Nordisk as a semaglutide molecule, indicated for type-2 diabetes, and for obesity we have got WeGovy—so it clearly differentiates between the two. But we also know on the other side, where just by default 60–70 percent of the patients who are diabetic are obese.
We have 100 million people (in India) who are diabetic (type-2). We have 135 million who already have impaired glucose tolerance. And then we have 250 million obese people, and have 350 million people with central obesity in the population.
So when we really calculate all these patients and just add up some of the other parameters like fatty liver, MASH (metabolically associated steatohepatitis) and then we add the population with CVD (cardio vascular diseases), you really find that a large set of the population is getting affected by metabolic disorders.
So Ozempic is clearly for type-2 diabetes, for the HbA1c reduction, and when they reduce, they also reduce the weight for these patients. So I would say there is a subset of the patients who are sufficient who should benefit from this product, and WeGovy is for treating obesity.
Q. Since both WeGovy and Ozempic are injectables, how far away are we from the launch of pill versions of semaglutides?
We are in the regulatory submissions stages when it comes to the WeGovy pill. We do not know at this point the timeline for the launch. But at least there are oral semaglutides at higher doses in the strength of 25 and 50 milligram, and are in the phase-three trial for obesity. And the good part is that we see very good signs that overall, the results are very, very encouraging.
Q. How are you going to ensure accessibility across India? Are you partnering with hospitals or clinics or others for better reach?
This is a proud moment to share: If Human Mixtard is available, it means other medications are available too. Human Mixtard is actually the number one insulin brand in India. We have seen Human Mixtard in vial form servicing more than two million patients across every nook and corner.
We are supported by a well-entrenched partner—a top player in our distribution chain—with a solid cold-chain management system developed over the last 40 years. That ensures not only supply but what we call the complete-care cool chain, the 4C guarantee, right up to the last mile. We feel very confident about it.
Childhood obesity in India has virtually doubled and a large part of the overall population is at risk. How can I fight against the phenomenon alone as a pharma company? We need players from different walks in life. I think the distribution partner, the healthcare provider, the e-channel partners, the governments, the policymaker, the patient group bodies, all have to come together.
We want to take away the stigma around it, but we also need partners for awareness. We have disclosed our partnership with Emcure Pharma for distribution of semaglutides for weight loss, and with Healthify for medical-assisted weight loss, in the fight against obesity. These are for WeGovy.
Before this you only had diet and nutrition which never gets realised, and then you have bariatric surgery which was only limited to 30,000 to 40,000 patients. Now more people can access this treatment with prescriptions from doctors.
Q. How are you looking to price Ozempic in India? You recently reduced the price of WeGovy in the market.
When we are launching Ozempic for the diabetic population—semaglutide in three strengths, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 milligram—we would like to be within the same kind of range as WeGovy. So, we want to be range-bound. I call it range-bound so that the access point remains manageable for the patients and they really get the benefit.
One part is to have innovation, and the second part is to ensure access, without which innovation is not useful. When we reduced the price of WeGovy, we listened to the patients and doctors—it was not a reaction but a considered response from our side and not a reaction. Shaving off 37 percent from the top line and bottom line is not easy, but we took the hard step so that the patient population benefits and the access is realised. With greater access, the price cut will be offset by the volumes as more patients access the drug.
Q. Lastly, how do you plan to counter misuse of this popular drug?
I would simply say go to your doctor, not only for Ozempic or for Wegovy; for any medication, people should go to the doctor. I think self-pharmacy is the last thing which, as a responsible and a sensible company, we are looking at. Please reach out to your doctor, and if it is required, then they will prescribe it after which you can secure and procure it.
First Published: Dec 12, 2025, 12:59
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