An obesity doctor and consultant explains the Ozempic GLP-1 self-injectable device at her clinic in Mumbai.INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images
Pharmaceutical companies have launched generic versions of Ozempic in India, beating Canadians to market despite the drugs being legal in Canada for nearly three months.
Novo Nordisk’s remaining patent protections on Ozempic ran out on the weekend, and a number of Indian pharmaceutical companies announced they had been approved by Indian’s drug regulator to launch generic versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic.
That included Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. with its drug Obeda, which is to be prescribed for Type 2 diabetes. The company said it was also working on a formulation of Obeda for weight management, which is the other use for which semaglutide is usually prescribed.
Dr. Reddy’s said in a news release the price of Obeda would be 4,200 rupees (about $62), which is around half the cost of brand-name Ozempic in India.
Another launch came from Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., which announced its versions of injectable semaglutide as Noveltreat (for weight) and Sematrinity (for Type 2 diabetes). Sun Pharma said its drugs would cost between 900 and 2,000 Rupees, depending on dosage.
Both Dr. Reddy’s and Sun Pharma applied to Health Canada to market generic semaglutide in Canada, but have yet to receive an approval.
Dr. Reddy’s first applied in February, 2024, and Sun Pharma (through subsidiary Taro Pharmaceuticals Inc.) applied in June, 2025.
None of the seven companies who have made generic semaglutide submissions have received approvals, despite Canada being the first major market in the world where generic Ozempic became legal, starting Jan. 5.
Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy – prescribed for Type 2 diabetes and obesity, respectively – are two of the biggest blockbuster drugs in Canada.
Ozempic earned $2.9-billion in 2025, according to aggregated prescription data collected by IQVIA Canada, an analytics company. That was more than three times the next best-selling drug. Wegovy earned a further $635-million, also placing it in the top 10.
A medicine distributor stores Mounjaro self-injecting GLP-1 prefilled pens and vials in a fridge at his office in Thane, a city close to Mumbai.INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty Images
Although Canada’s population of 41 million people pales in comparison to India’s nearly 1.5 billion, Canadians’ relatively higher wealth has made the country one of Novo Nordisk’s biggest markets outside the United States.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk’s financial statements do not even list India as among its markets. Reuters reported last year that sales of GLP-1 drugs – the class that includes Ozempic and Wegovy – was just 6.28 billion rupees, or less than $100-million, as of last July.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information cited Ozempic as a major driver of costs in Canada’s public-health plans. Public spending on prescription drugs reached $20.1-billion in 2024, up 9.3 per cent from the previous year, and industry statistics show Ozempic use has only increased since then.
Ozempic’s list price in Canada is $223 for a four-week supply, though patients paying out of pocket typically pay more than that after pharmacy and distributor markups.
The generic version will cost 35 per cent of the list price once at least three products are on the market, according to a pricing framework agreed to by public-health plans and generic drug makers.