![\"Praveen](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779272897_724_1x1_spacer.png\" "\\"Praveen")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPraveen Rao Akkinepally, Managing Director, AstraZeneca Pharma India\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
As biopharmaceutical drugmaker AstraZeneca waits in the wings with its oral GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes drug \u2014 India could be on its radar, depending on the data from its global Phase III trials, a top AZ executive said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are certainly hoping that India will play a role and have representation, just as we have seen with our other trials,\u201d Praveen Rao Akkinepally, Managing Director,\u00a0AstraZeneca\u00a0Pharma India, told businessline, as he completes a year at helm of the UK-based company in India.<\/p>\n
Just weeks ago, AstraZeneca had said its lead oral GLP-1 drug had shown strong results in Phase IIb studies, and was now being taken into Phase III studies globally, he said, adding \u201cthey are just getting started, so we don\u2019t have specific numbers yet on how it will play out in India\u2026 But the decision to move to Phase III shows our confidence in the molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regulatory approvals<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to bring it to India as soon as we have the right data and regulatory approvals,\u201d the MD said, given the country\u2019s high incidence of obesity and metabolic disorders. \u201cWe are clearly very interested\u2026 we have got a long legacy in treating cardiovascular and renal diseases, with several drugs already in this space in India… This oral GLP-1 portfolio would complement that, so it seems like a natural way for us to build on it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
On India\u2019s participation in the trials, he said, \u201cIndia has historically been part of many Phase III trials in our cardiovascular and renal portfolio, so we are hoping to be part of this. We just have to wait for guidance from global once the trial design and numbers are determined.\u201d<\/p>\n
The development comes even as India\u2019s GLP-1 diabetes and weight loss products segment sees much activity from multinational Novo Nordisk (with products Ozempic and Wegovy) and Eli Lilly (with Mounjaro). Several generic drugmakers have also rolled out their less-expensive versions of injectable semaglutide after it went off patent in India, this March. (Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk\u2019s Ozempic and Wegovy.)<\/p>\n
Competition hots up<\/p>\n
The action now is in the global oral weight loss pill market. While Novo\u2019s oral semaglutide pill (Rybelsus) for diabetes is available in India \u2014 competition hots up in the global oral weight loss pill segment between Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and possibly AstraZeneca.<\/p>\n
Akkinepally reiterated, \u201cWe are looking to bring our cardiovascular portfolio over, of which the oral GLP-1 will be a key part…. we need to let the trial play out, see the data and establish approval timelines. But looking at our track record, we are bringing our global portfolio to India, and we plan to do the same here.\u201d<\/p>\n
On being a late entrant to this dynamic segment, he said, \u201cIn our case, an oral GLP-1 will be one of the earlier options available as a pill. Even in a market like India, a pill format should certainly support broader access and convenience, which will play a major role.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking to accelerate their programme, he said, \u201cif you bring the right value proposition, which we believe we can, given the data seen so far and the fact that it will be an oral drug, it will make a significant impact. We are excited to see that impact in India.\u201d<\/p>\n
Published on June 19, 2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Praveen Rao Akkinepally, Managing Director, AstraZeneca Pharma India As biopharmaceutical drugmaker AstraZeneca waits in the wings with its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[20662],"tags":[11153,31146,31145,11694,5767],"class_list":["post-66496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-astrazeneca","tag-astrazeneca","tag-diabetes-drug","tag-global-trials","tag-glp-1","tag-weight-loss"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116777287973401972","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}