With the growing demand for weight-loss drugs like Wegovy, new online companies seem to pop up every day, offering telehealth prescribing of cheaper, compounded versions of the medicines. And for some patients, they offer a reprieve from the high name-brand prices, insurance company coverage denials and drug shortages. (Yicai) June 7 — At least 15 generic versions of Ozempic are undergoing clinical trials in China, as Novo Nordisk’s patent in the country for the popular diabetes drug’s active ingredient semaglutide will expire in 2026. As researchers continue to discover new potential use cases for GLP-1 drugs, and public interest and demand remains high, these drugs may be on the FDA’s official shortage list for months or even years to come.
Clinical trials and early approvals for diabetes
Since websites often work with several compounding pharmacies, and NABP can’t check everything, you can do more due diligence on your own. But as soon as a bad online pharmacy gets taken down, another two pop up in its place. “So we just continue to do our due diligence, but it’s kind of like you’re on a hamster wheel,” he says. Compounding pharmacies are required to source their ingredients from FDA-registered facilities, says Brunner. “And they use some of the same FDA-registered facilities that the drug manufacturers use,” Brunner says. In the former case, people have none of the protections they would have when taking a properly prescribed drug.
Zuo Ya-Jun, general manager of weight loss drugmaker Shanghai Benemae Pharmaceutical, said a product being competitive would depend on distinguishing features such as efficacy, durability of the treatment and a company’s sales abilities. Novo also faces competition from internationally well-known firms, including Eli Lilly, whose diabetes drug Mounjaro received approval from China in May. HSBC analysts expect China’s approval this year or in the first half of 2025 for Lilly’s weight loss drug with the same active ingredient. At least 11 semaglutide drug candidates from Chinese firms are in the final stages of clinical trials, according to records in a clinical trial database reviewed by Reuters. Chinese consumers wanting a quick weight loss fix are turning to a diabetes drug, raising concerns over the misuse and potential side effects from unsupervised prescriptions.
Among the frontrunners of the would-be Chinese semaglutide sellers is Hangzhou Jiuyuan Gene Engineering, whose version of semaglutide is said to have “similar clinical efficacy and safety” to Ozempic. Chinese pharmaceutical companies are eyeing a lucrative commercial market set to materialise upon the patent expiry for Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss and type 2 diabetes (T2D) drug semaglutide. The rise of semaglutide biosimilars in China addresses the urgent obesity epidemic by introducing innovative therapeutic options. With Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic set to lose its patent in 2026, competition is heating up. A Chinese company has already pursued approval for a biosimilar of this necessary diabetes medication, signaling a pivotal shift in market dynamics.
- “I’m really concerned about the way in which this market has developed that compromises public safety,” said Australia’s federal health minister, Mark Butler, when the ban was announced.
- The core patent of the drug in China, “acylated GLP-1 compounds”, will expire on March 20, 2026, and the development of domestic semaglutide biosimilars is accelerating.
- “The medicine is not for everyone,” said Chen Yi, a doctor at West China Hospital in the southwestern city of Chengdu, in a short video shared on Xiaohongshu, underscoring that it would prove harmful for people with certain medical conditions.
- This medicine may cause some people to be agitated, irritable, or display other abnormal behaviors.
- According to studies, people who took it saw more significant weight loss than those who took a placebo.
Novo’s Ozempic, Wegovy to Face Stiff Generic Competition in China: Reuters
Treatment of Type 2 DiabetesIt has been particularly approved to help people with this condition improve blood sugar control and lower blood sugar levels. Ozempic’s efficacy in treating type 2 diabetes patients has been investigated in numerous clinical trials. Large-scale clinical trials like the SUSTAIN, PIONEER, and SELECT investigations are among these trials. Several clinical trials are being conducted for SUSTAIN’s research project to examine its therapeutic impact on type 2 diabetic patients. The trial’s results showed that people on it experienced reduced cardiovascular events and total mortality. Another clinical trial to assess ozempic’s efficiency in people with type 2 diabetes is called PIONEER.
“Honesty, practicality, innovation, and development” are the core values that guide Jianfeng. We are committed to collaborating with you, offering high-quality products and competitive prices, to ensure a mutually beneficial partnership. Patients with type 2 diabetes in China should consult with their healthcare provider to determine the most appropriate treatment for their individual needs. If these challenges end up driving prices of the expensive drugs even lower than they have already, however, it’s hard to imagine the company remaining cavalier as its stranglehold of the market continues to shrink. As China prepares to beef up its weight loss medication market, the Danish firm that makes Ozempic and Wegovy may soon have its dominance threatened.
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As these biosimilars gain traction, they will not only provide effective diabetes management options but also stimulate innovation within the pharmaceutical industry. Since all three medications (Ozempic®, Rybelsus®, Wegovy®) contain semaglutide, can they be used interchangeably? In simple terms, both Rybelsus® and Ozempic® are indicated for adults with type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy® is approved for body weight management in eligible patients. The continuation of compounding will likely continue the debate around the safety of compounded products. Much of that debate has centered around the safety of sterile-injectable drug compounding, with the quality of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) or “bulk” that pharmacies use to compound receiving much less attention.
So far in 2024, the company has witnessed a spike in the number of “violative or problematic” GLP-1 ads, including those making false claims about what the drugs can do and ads from unlicensed pharmacies. In the first half of 2024, LegitScript has seen twice as many violative or problematic ads as it saw in 2023. WIRED’s experience ordering these medications suggests that people who do not meet the criteria to get these drugs prescribed will not have a difficult time circumventing the guardrails in place. They did all send instructions for how to inject the medications safely, and the Henry practitioner who conferenced with me gave a very clear visual tutorial.
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Meanwhile, some users of Ozempic have raised red flags online, complaining of discomfort ranging from nausea to slight depression after taking two doses of the injection. Medical experts have also warned people about self-administering the drug, which they suggested could increase the risk of developing tumors and cancer. Semaglutide is not an appropriate treatment for people who need only a tiny amount of weight loss. It’s also unsuitable for those looking for an “instant” or short-term way to lose weight. Semaglutide’s patent protections in China are set to expire in 2026, which could open the Chinese market up to these generic competitors. Aside from Hangzhou Jiuyuan buy semaglutide injections Gene Engineering, several other companies are developing their own weight-loss candidates, including United Laboratories, Huadong Medicine and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group.
The following interactions have been selected on the basis of their potential significance and are not necessarily all-inclusive. Tell your doctor if you have ever had any unusual or allergic reaction to this medicine or any other medicines. Also tell your health care professional if you have any other types of allergies, such as to foods, dyes, preservatives, or animals. For non-prescription products, read the label or package ingredients carefully. Ozempic, or semaglutide, is legally recognized and approved for use in China by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it is readily available in all pharmacies or hospitals.
It is very important that your doctor check your progress at regular visits to make sure that this medicine is working properly. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. If you use this medicine with insulin, do not mix them into the same syringe. It is acceptable to inject these in the same body area, but the shots should not be right next to each other.
A 10 mg semaglutide product is not officially manufactured by Novo Nordisk (the original producer), so it may come from a compounding pharmacy, which mixes medications to specific doses. Summary It is precisely because of its excellent performance in hypoglycemic, weight loss, safety and cardiovascular benefits that semaglutide has become a phenomenon-level “new star” with a huge market prospect. A recent double-blind trial involved nearly 2,000 individuals whose BMI was over 30 with undiagnosed diabetes. When individuals had other lifestyle changes, such as exercise, the study found a mean change in body weight of -14.9% after 68 weeks of semaglutide treatment. A long-term randomized, double-blind trial in the mid-2010s found significant weight loss with semaglutide. This weight loss was compared to the placebo group and another substance in the GLP-1 receptor agonist class, liraglutide.
