{"id":58045,"date":"2026-04-09T10:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/58045\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T10:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:17:07","slug":"eli-lillys-mounjaro-loses-ground-to-novo-nordisks-semaglutide-and-the-slew-of-cheaper-generics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/58045\/","title":{"rendered":"Eli Lilly\u2019s Mounjaro loses ground to Novo Nordisk\u2019s semaglutide, and the slew of cheaper generics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1x1_spacer.png\" alt=\"A Mounjaro injection used for weight loss procedures at a clinic in Mumbai, March 31, 2026.\" title=\"A Mounjaro injection used for weight loss procedures at a clinic in Mumbai, March 31, 2026.\" data-original=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1x1_spacer.png\" class=\"article-pictue\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA Mounjaro injection used for weight loss procedures at a clinic in Mumbai, March 31, 2026.<br \/>\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\t\t| Photo Credit:<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFRANCIS MASCARENHAS\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>In just 10 days after less-expensive generic versions of semaglutide entered the fray \u2013 the marketplace shows that Eli Lilly\u2019s obesity drug Mounjaro continues to hold pole position, but has ceded some ground to semaglutide innovator company Novo Nordisk and the several domestic drugmakers that brought in their versions of this product to treat weightloss and diabetes. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Danish company Novo Nordisk\u2019s Ozempic (for diabetes) and Wegovy (obesity), and it lost patent protection in India and some other markets on March 20, paving the way for a slew of domestic products to enter the market &#8211; at prices down between 50 to 80 per cent of the innovator\u2019s price; in multiple delivery forms\u00a0(vials, resuable pens, \u00a0oral drugs) and strengths.<\/p>\n<p>Operating in the same weightloss segment is American company Eli Lilly, whose Mounjaro is more expensive, but has been holding its ground for several months, since its launch in March 2025.<\/p>\n<p>While the domestic GLP-1 agonist segment (covering these obesity and diabetes drugs) is almost \u20b91,600 crore, for the 12 months up to March 2026, Tirzepatide (or brand Mounjaro) dominates the segment, but seems to have taken \u201ca major hit\u201d due to the semaglutide generics launch, observed Sheetal Sapale, Vice-President, Commercial, at Pharmarack Technologies.<\/p>\n<p>Tirzepatide clocked sales of \u20b9114 crore in March, down from \u20b9135 crore in February 2026, according to industry tracker Pharmarack. Semaglutide posted sales of \u20b959 crore in March, up from last month\u2019s \u20b948 crore.\u00a0The dip in Tirzepatide sales brought down the GLP-1 drug sales in March to \u20b9180 crore, from last month\u2019s \u20b9191 crore. Other products in the same segment seem to have held their own \u2013 with Dulaglutide clocking \u20b95 crore in March, same as the previous month; and Liraglutide posting \u20b93 crore in March, same as February\u2019s sales, the data tracker revealed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGold rush phase\u201d<\/p>\n<p>About 13 companies launched 26 versions of generic semaglutide, and more are in the pipeline, said Sapale, adding however, that only a handful will be able to leverage the branded generics opportunity. So while innovator Novo lead the semaglutide sales in March at \u20b945 crore with Ozempic, Wegovy and oral drug Rybelsus, it was followed by generic semaglutide brands from Torrent Pharma (\u20b94.7 crore), Dr Reddy\u2019s Laboratories (\u20b91.9 crore), \u00a0Zydus Lifesciences (\u20b91.4 crore), Lupin (\u20b91.4 crore) and Sun Pharma (\u20b90.90 crore). \u201cThis is a classic \u2018gold rush phase\u2019\u2014participation is high, but value capture will be concentrated,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n<p>More \u201caggressive launches\u201d may be seen in the next few days, and the \u201cexponential growth phenomenon\u201d may be repeated in April 2026 as well, she said. Novo Nordisk has maintained its ground in the initial phase, with \u201cinnovator driven efficacy, increased share of voice due to partnerships with Emcure and Abbott\u201d, she said, adding that pegging the price at par with some key generics may play a significant role in future for the innovator.<\/p>\n<p>The government has, meanwhile, through repeated advisories, said these products should be administered only on prescriptions and to eligible patients. \u201cHowever, misuse\/unwanted use may be difficult to arrest,\u201d she said, adding that regulations may refine the market, but was unlikely to derail \u201cthe growth trajectory in the initial months of generics launches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"publish-time\" id=\"end-of-article\">Published on  April 9, 2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Mounjaro injection used for weight loss procedures at a clinic in Mumbai, March 31, 2026. | Photo&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[271],"tags":[276,12074,6304,272,689,32034],"class_list":["post-58045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novo-nordisk","tag-eli-lilly","tag-generic","tag-mounjaro","tag-novo-nordisk","tag-semaglutide","tag-weightloss-medicine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116374237800509457","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58045","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=58045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}