Novo’s price cuts and R&D moves

Novo Nordisk just cut India prices for Ozempic by 38% and Wegovy by 48% after cheap copies of semaglutide hit the market within days of patent expiry. Eli Lilly, not Novo, took the first visible hit: Lilly’s share of India’s glucagon-like peptide 1 market fell to 56% in March from 61% in February, while Novo held at 25%. (cnbc.com) The trigger was a patent clock, not a marketing campaign. Reuters reported that semaglutide patent protection in India expired in March 2026, and local drugmakers moved in with versions priced far below the original brands. (msn.com) Those local prices changed the whole math. CNBC said India’s generic semaglutide products are selling for as little as 1,200 rupees a month, while Novo’s new starting price is about 5,660 rupees a month even after the cuts. (cnbc.com) India is the worst place in the world to defend a premium drug with an old patent. CNBC described the country as the “world’s pharmacy,” with a huge generic manufacturing base, about 100 million people living with diabetes, and nearly a quarter of the population classified as overweight or obese. (cnbc.com) Novo’s response was not just to cut prices once. Reuters said the company cut Ozempic and Wegovy prices again in India at the end of March, with reductions of up to 36% and 48%, showing it is trying to stay close enough to generics to keep doctors and patients from switching completely. (msn.com) At the same time, Novo is trying to change the shape of the product, not just the sticker price. In February, it signed a partnership worth up to $2.1 billion with Vivtex to develop oral biologic medicines for obesity, diabetes, and related conditions. (vivtex.com, pharmexec.com) An oral biologic is a large, fragile medicine taken by mouth instead of injected under the skin. That is hard because the stomach and intestines are built to break complex molecules apart, the way rain and heat break down cardboard left outside. (vivtex.com, fiercebiotech.com) Vivtex’s pitch is that it can help those medicines survive the trip through the gut long enough to be absorbed. The companies said Vivtex will license selected oral delivery technologies, while Novo will handle global development, manufacturing, regulation, and sales. (vivtex.com) Novo is making that bet after already pushing beyond injections this year. Fierce Biotech reported that the Vivtex deal came after Novo launched a Wegovy pill at the start of 2026, which shows the company is trying to build a wider menu of formats before rivals turn semaglutide into a commodity. (fiercebiotech.com) So the company is fighting on two fronts at once. In India, it is defending branded semaglutide with lower prices; in research, it is trying to get ahead of the next price war by making obesity and diabetes drugs easier to take and harder to copy. (cnbc.com, vivtex.com)