NOVO Nordisk’s flagship weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved for use in China, the Danish pharmaceutical giant said.

The company — Europe’s largest by market capitalization — confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that China had given the green light for the breakthrough treatment in people who are overweight or obese.

Based on the semaglutide molecule, Wegovy is seen as spearheading a revolution in the treatment of obesity, a major cause of ill-health across the developed world.

The diet drug, which is the world’s first and the only weekly glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist for long-term weight management, has been approved for use on those with a body mass index of at least 30 kilograms per square meter and who suffer from at least one weight-related complication.

It was not clear when Wegovy would be formally launched in China, where Novo Nordisk’s sales rose by 11% last year at constant exchange rates.

The Danish drugmaker has high hopes that demand for its blockbuster drugs will surge in China, which is estimated to have the world’s highest number of people who are overweight or obese.

Semaglutide can help people lose on average 17% of their body weight and give them multiple health benefits beyond weight loss, the Bagsvaerd-based company said. The drug promotes insulin secretion by activating glucagon-like peptide-1 receptors which help regulate blood sugar and control the appetite, especially among people with type 2 diabetes.

“Only a handful of obesity drugs have been approved in China in the last 20 odd years,” Chen Wei, a professor at the department of clinical nutrition at Peking Union Medical College University, was quoted by Yicai Global as saying. “This new type of slimming drug can provide patients with safe, effective and convenient treatment,” he said.

“There is not enough knowledge in the public about obesity-related health problems, and so few people seek help,” said Mu Yiming, a professor at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital’s No. 1 Medical Center. “But judging from the number of follow-up visits, the possibility of health complications in overweight people is high.”

Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk is facing the prospect of intensifying competition in the promising Chinese market where drugmakers are developing at least 15 generic versions of its diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss treatment Wegovy, clinical trial records showed.

Ozempic won approval from China in 2021 and Novo Nordisk saw sales of the drug in the greater China region double to 4.8 billion Danish Krone (US$698 million) last year, according to Reuters.

But the patent on semaglutide, the active ingredient in both Wegovy and Ozempic, expires in China in 2026. Novo is also in the midst of a legal fight in the country over the patent.

An adverse court ruling could make it lose its semaglutide exclusivity even sooner and turn China into the first major market where it is stripped of patent protection for the drugs.

Those circumstances have drawn several Chinese drugmakers to the fray. At least 11 semaglutide drug candidates from Chinese firms are in the final stages of clinical trials, according to records in a clinical trial database reviewed by Reuters.

The frontrunner, a gene engineering and biochemical drugs company called Hangzhou Jiuyuan Gene Engineering, announced that its developmental generic has achieved comparable efficacy and safety to Ozempic, as per biospace.com.

The Chinese company announced in April that it had filed for approval for the candidate and is expecting a decision in the latter half of 2025.

The impending Chinese generic semaglutide competition comes as Novo expands its footprint in China. In March, the Danish firm announced that it was pumping around US$556 million in a sterile preparations expansion project.

The investment will help Novo meet the demands of the Chinese market for its products, including Ozempic and Wegovy, while also boosting its global manufacturing capacity.

In the United States — the group’s largest such market — Wegovy has also been approved to treat heart disease in adults who are overweight or obese.

(SD News)