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Demand for obesity drugs shoots up in India as Lilly, Novo vie for market share
By Rishika Sadam - 7/7/2025
By Rishika Sadam
HYDERABAD (Reuters) -Demand for weight-loss drugs is rising at a fast clip in India, where rivals Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are competing for market share, data from research firm Pharmarack showed on Monday.
Lilly's Mounjaro, launched in late March, doubled its sales in June to 87,986 units or 260 million rupees ($3.03 million) compared to May, Pharmarack said. Between March and May, Lilly had sold 81,570 Mounjaro units in India.
Meanwhile, Novo sold 1,788 units of Wegovy in India since its late-June launch with 25.3 million rupees in sales, Pharmarack said.
The incidence of obesity and diabetes is rising in India, the world's most populous country, which also ranks among the worst three globally for high obesity rates, according to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet.
The Indian obesity drug market has grown fivefold since 2021 and is valued at 6.28 billion rupees, according to the research firm.
Affordability and willingness to try new drugs for obesity have propelled the growth of the market, Pharmarack's Vice President (Commercial) Sheetal Sapale said.
Wegovy's active ingredient, semaglutide, dominates the market with a two-thirds share in India, while Mounjaro's active ingredient, tirzepatide, has captured 8% of the market, Pharmarack said.
As of June, the semaglutide market in India was valued at 4.12 billion rupees, and tirzepatide at 500 million rupees, the research firm said.
Novo has sold oral versions of semaglutide for diabetes in India since 2022.
Semaglutide will lose patent protection in India in 2026, and generic drugmakers are aiming to produce cheaper versions of Wegovy as India becomes a key battleground for drugmakers seeking to grab a share of the global obesity market.
Novo and Lilly's drugs help control blood sugar and slow digestion, making users feel fuller for longer.
($1 = 85.9200 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Vijay Kishore)