{"id":3108,"date":"2026-02-07T12:03:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T12:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/3108\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T12:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T12:03:26","slug":"novo-nordisk-says-generic-ozempic-wegovy-will-slow-sales-in-canada-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/3108\/","title":{"rendered":"Novo Nordisk says generic Ozempic, Wegovy will slow sales in Canada – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Health Canada had approved several generics for semaglutide. They have received several submissions for approval for generic semaglutide. This article has been updated to reflect the error.<\/p>\n

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Novo Nordisk<\/a> says the expiration of its patents for some semaglutide<\/a> GLP-1 drug treatments in markets like Canada will result in more generics entering the marketplace and impact the company\u2019s sales.<\/p>\n

The Denmark-based pharmaceutical company behind brand names like Wegovy and Ozempic said in an earnings report on Wednesday that it expects somewhat weaker demand in 2026, citing \u201cintensifying competition\u201d as its grip on the Canadian market starts to weaken as part of its \u201cSemaglutide Loss of Exclusivity\u201d or \u201cSema LOE.\u201d<\/p>\n

This comes after Health Canada recently received several submissions for generic treatment options for reducing risks from diabetes and helping to manage weight.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn international operations, the outlook is based on current growth trends, including continued volume penetration from GLP-1 treatments and market expansion, mainly within obesity, as well as intensifying competition and negative impacts from the patent expiry of semaglutide in certain markets,\u201d chief financial officer Karsten Munk Knudsen at Novo Nordisk said on the earnings call with investors and analysts Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSema LOE in international markets will impact group sales by low single digits. Canada is the biggest contributor,\u201d Knudsen said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere could be both an upside and a downside to our guidance, depending on the pace of approval of generics in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

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According to Canada\u2019s Drug Agency, Wegovy could cost Canadians about $5,000 per year<\/a> based on the recommended maintenance dose for weight management of 2.4 milligrams weekly.<\/p>\n

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The Canadian patents for these Novo Nordisk semaglutide treatments in Canada expired last month<\/a>, which paved the way for other producers to create similar products without the brand name.<\/p>\n

Near the end of last year, Health Canada said it had received nine submissions seeking approval to make semaglutide treatments similar to Ozempic and Wegovy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealth Canada understands that there is considerable interest in lowering costs associated with this highly prescribed drug by introducing generic versions,\u201d spokesperson Mark Johnson said in an email to The Canadian Press in January.<\/p>\n

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Some of those submissions were from companies including Sandoz Canada, Apotex, Teva Canada, Taro Pharmaceuticals and Aspen Pharmacare Canada.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk says it\u2019s confident its semaglutide pill treatments will help offset any drop in sales from injections.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen encouraging early uptake of the Wegovy pill. Our compiled data shows that total prescriptions are around 50,000 for the week ending January 23rd, with around 45,000 of these prescriptions coming through self-pay. The uptake is over twice that of any prior anti-obesity drug launches in the United States,\u201d Novo Nordisk executive vice-president Dave Moore said during the call.<\/p>\n

\u201cThough it is still early in the launch, most prescriptions appear to be for patients new to these medications, suggesting the market is expanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Novo Nordisk\u2019s GLP-1 pill, Rybelsus, was approved by Health Canada last month<\/a> and is currently the only semaglutide in pill form available in Canada. It is designed to help reduce the risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

Eli Lilly is also developing a GLP-1 pill, but it is not yet approved for use in the U.S. or in Canada.<\/p>\n

Eli Lilly<\/a>, which makes weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, provided an outlook for 2026 expecting revenue to increase by about 25 per cent compared with last year.<\/p>\n

That outshone the outlook provided by Novo Nordisk, which said it expects to see sales fall between five and 13 per cent this year compared with 2025, citing the \u201closs of exclusivity for the semaglutide molecule.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 with a file from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Health Canada had approved several generics for semaglutide. They have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[271],"tags":[3336,3335,393,272,689,277],"class_list":{"0":"post-3108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-novo-nordisk","8":"tag-consumer","9":"tag-glp-1","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-novo-nordisk","12":"tag-semaglutide","13":"tag-weight-loss-drugs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}