Novo Nordisk follows smart pricing for Wegovy in India; easy to use, says top local executive

Vikrant Shrotriya

Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk on Tuesday said it has followed “smart Indian pricing,” which is lower than prices in many countries, to make its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy accessible to millions of Indians while preserving the value of its innovation.

“We wanted to price it in India in a way which is comparable to the therapies which are available,” said Vikrant Shrotriya, Managing Director of Novo Nordisk India, in an interview with Moneycontrol.

“The justice which comes with the therapy is much larger than the price people pay,” he added.

Wegovy, a once-weekly injectable semaglutide, recently launched in India, is available in five dosing strengths. The first three doses—0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, and 1 mg—are priced uniformly at Rs 17,345 per month. The higher doses of 1.7 mg and 2.4 mg are priced at Rs 24,280 and Rs 26,050 respectively, translating to Rs 4,366 per weekly injection. Wegovy is priced higher than Mounjaro, which is available in India for Rs 14,000 (2.5 mg) –Rs 17,000 (5 mg) per month. Mounjaro comes in vials, which require administration in a clinic, compared to Wegovy, which comes more convenient self-administered pen form.

The drug is the first and only medication for chronic weight management and cardiovascular diseases. The rival Eli Lilly's Mounjaro is approved for weight loss and as an anti-diabetes drug. The drug is prescribed for people above a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m² without comorbidities or greater; and for a BMI of 27 kg/m² or more (overweight) in the presence of at least one weight-related comorbid condition such as hypertension, type-2 diabetes, or dyslipidemia (elevated cholesterol or triglycerides).

The pricing rationale

This pricing model is designed to support patient adherence and cut dropouts during the critical titration phase.

"We had many options to try, but we thought, let's price it at a level to start and to stay at the same level for the three doses ...then people start getting the benefit, they start having the trust and they start believing their doctors that this is beneficial. And when they see themselves in the mirror, when they see their body parameters, they find that, oh my God, this is giving the benefit. And then we have further marginally increased (for the other two dosage forms)," Shrotriya said.

Wegovy follows a four-week cycle for dosage, starting with the smallest dose of 0.25 mg per week for four weeks, followed by a gradual increase in dosage of 0.5 mg per week for a month and 1 mg per week for another month. After that, the doctor who prescribed the drug will take a call based on the outcome, on whether to increase the dose further, maintain or reduce it.

Supply issues ironed out

Despite global supply challenges, the company has launched Wegovy pan-India with all five strengths available.

Shrotriya said, “We have taken all checks and balances that we continue to supply to Indian patients.”

Wegovy is the first and only GLP-1 receptor agonist in India indicated for both chronic weight management and reduction of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Clinical trials show that 1 in 3 patients achieve around 20 percent weight loss, and the drug reduces cardiovascular risk by 20 percent in obese individuals. The drug has side effects that primarily include nausea.

“People do weight loss because they don’t want to have heart failure, they don’t want to have stroke,” Shrotriya said. “Now that gets reduced by 20 percent with this medication. Imagine that reduction and then compare the price—the value gets justified.”

Local strategy

Shrotriya said Wegovy in India will be distributed by Abbott India, while Novo Nordisk will do the marketing.

“We are one of the strongest players in metabolic disease areas,” Shrotriya noted. “While we are multinational, we locally fit. That local fit is giving us this pricing, this reach.”

The drug is delivered via a color-coded FlexTouch pen, allowing patients to self-administer discreetly. “People can conveniently take it at home,” he said. “It’s a very good thing for the patients.”

Shrotriya said he isn't perturbed by competition from Eli Lilly's weight loss competitor Mounjaro and the potential generic launches from next year, as the "problem is so big."

"With over 254 million Indians living with generalised obesity, the stakes are high, there is so much, that everybody has got a role to play just to tackle the burden of the disease," Shrotriya said.

He also said that Wegovy scores well because it has been in the market for more years than its rival, and is being tested on over 3,500 patients in India as part of its phase-3 clinical trials. Trials related to heart failure outcomes and liver benefits are still ongoing.

Shrotriya said the decision to introduce Wegovy, and not the type-2 diabetes injectable Ozempic, was linked to the company’s existing diabetes franchise: oral semaglutide, launched in 2022.

Novo Nordisk has taken legal steps to protect its intellectual property, including a stay from the Delhi High Court against premature generic launches. “The safety and the security of the patient is paramount for us,” Shrotriya said.

“Today is a watershed time and a milestone for all of us,” Shrotriya concluded. “Not only for me, for the doctors, for the patient, this wide gap gets addressed.”