Wegovy® – the weight-loss drug sparking a global race to end obesity

Wegovy®, the weight loss drug from Novo Nordisk has been creating headlines since it’s early testing phases, through it’s approval in June 2021 by the US FDA and January 2022 from the European Medicines Agency, and it continues to do so. 

The remarkable popularity of the drug has prompted some analysts to predict a weight-loss market reaching $100 billion a year or more by the end of the decade. 

The weight loss drug was also approved for use in adolescents aged 12-17 in December 2022. Since then, the demand for the treatment has markedly increased, along with some controversy over the suitability of giving teens a weight loss drug. However, regulatory bodies and Novo Nordisk state that the medication is safe for use and always under prescription from a doctor. 

As the growth in demand for the treatment continues, Novo Nordisk has put in place measures to ensure the supply will meet this demand after running into supply difficulties in 2023 as demand outstripped their manufacturing capacity. Now, with the rollout of more than double the lower dosage forms of Wegovy® in the USA, more people will be able to start treatment in 2024. Novo Nordisk will continue to increase the supply over the course of the year. 

Novo Nordisk will be able to meet the demand for their blockbuster therapy through their holding company – Novo Holdings – recent acquisition of US-based biotech and pharma CDMO Catalent in a US$16.5 billion deal.

The acquisition will mean the company will have increased capacity to produce Wegovy® and Ozempic® (another semaglutide GLP-1 receptor agonist produced by Novo Nordisk as a Type 2 diabetes treatment).

Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, President and CEO at Novo Nordisk, commented: “We are very pleased with the agreement to acquire the three Catalent manufacturing sites which will enable us to serve significantly more people living with diabetes and obesity in the future.”

In February 2024 the weight-loss drug, approved for prescription use in Japan, started sales. Concurrently, the health ministry in Japan released use-guidelines for Wegovy®, urging people not to use it other than for obesity treatment and that it should be prescribed with caution, only to patients of a high need. 

The highly-sort after medication is now looking to be replicated in other countries, with the pharma market in India keen to keep up. Several top generics makers in the country, including Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, and Lupin, among others have set to work on their on versions of the therapy. 

As Novo Nordisk aren’t expected to release Wegovy® in India until 2026 the developments from India-based drug makers could go a long way to increasing accessibility to the treatment. 

In the USA, Eli Lily – maker of weight-loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro – has also been struggling to meet the demand, showing a gap in the market that other companies are racing to fill. 

See more on what the Novo – Catalent deal means for the pharmaceutical industry by clicking the button below. 

Sources