Generic Obesity Drugs Flood India; FDA Pulls GSK Drug
Why it matters: The rapid market share shift in India provides a snapshot of how patent expirations will affect GLP-1 makers like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
- Cheap generic copies of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug are reshaping India’s obesity medicine market, with their share jumping to 33% in March from 25% a month earlier, per Bloomberg News and Pharmarack.
- Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro saw its share in India’s GLP-1 segment fall to 64% from 71% as generics entered the market.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) withdrew approval for GSK’s Wellcovorin, a branded version of leucovorin, at GSK's request, after the Trump administration had promoted it as an autism treatment, Bloomberg News reports.
- Leucovorin was originally approved decades ago to blunt chemotherapy side effects and was recently approved by the FDA for cerebral folate deficiency, which is seen in some people with autism.
The Indian market for obesity drugs is rapidly changing as cheap generic versions of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug have flooded the market, quickly gaining significant share at the expense of Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, according to Bloomberg News and Pharmarack data. This shift provides an early look at how patent expirations will impact major GLP-1 drug manufacturers. Separately, the FDA has withdrawn approval for GSK's Wellcovorin, a drug previously promoted by the Trump administration as an autism treatment, adding another twist to its decades-long history.
