Novo Nordisk ties up with Emcure to expand reach of weight-loss drug semaglutide in India

Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk has tied up with Indian pharma company Emcure Pharma to distribute and market a second brand of its diabetes and weight loss injection semaglutide in a bid to widen its reach in the country using the Pune-based company’s distribution channel and field force.

The semaglutide brand, to be exclusively distributed and commercialised by Emcure for weight loss in India, will be called Poviztra, and will be available in all the five dosage strengths as Novo Nordisk’s own brand Wegovy.

In June, Novo Nordisk launched Wegovy (semaglutide) injections in five dosing strengths (0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.7 and 2.4 mg).

However, the company has not yet disclosed pricing details for Poviztra.

Wegovy is currently priced between Rs 17,345 and Rs 26,050 across dosages in India. It is prescribed for long-term chronic weight management and reduction in risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). In clinical trials, one in three participants on Wegovy experienced weight loss of over 20%.

“We realise that there is a significant need to go beyond the current set of population that can access Wegovy. The need for reaching a new set of population, geographies and territories is where this partnership comes into play,” said Jay Thyagarajan, senior vice president, region APAC, Novo Nordisk.

Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director, Novo Nordisk India, said: “We are embarking with Emcure to become a very strong brand across India both because of science and also because of commercial sense that they bring to the table with their presence in multiple therapeutic areas”.

Wegovy has so far seen limited uptake in India compared to rival weight loss molecule Mounjaro (tirzepatide) from US drug maker Eli Lilly that was launched in March. Recently, Lilly tied with Cipla to market and distribute tirzepatide in India.

“We will lead the commercialisation and distribution of Poviztra in India ensuring widespread availability across regions and channels,” said Satish Mehta, chief executive officer and managing director, Emcure Pharma.

“We have 5,000 medical representatives and we will discuss with Novo Nordisk which are the segments that we will be targeting,” he said, without specifying the number of field force to be engaged in distribution of semaglutide.