Hikma races to launch generic versions of blockbuster obesity drugs

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Drugmaker Hikma is in talks with partners across the world to prepare to sell a generic version of Ozempic and Wegovy, as patents on Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs start expiring as soon as next year.

The FTSE 100 group is racing to produce a generic form of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the drugs. Patents on the branded versions are due to expire in Canada, China, India and Brazil in 2026, and in other markets between 2028 and 2032.

Riad Mishlawi, Hikma’s chief executive, said the impact of the new class of drugs had a comparable impact to the first antibiotic penicillin.

“It’s not only because of the weight loss . . . It is because the weight causes a lot of other diseases,” he said. “So when you treat this, indirectly, you’re treating a lot of diseases. So that’s why it has been a big craze and a lot of people are jumping on it.”

Analysts have estimated the size of the weight loss drug market as anywhere between $80bn and $140bn. Mishlawi said the current medicines were “only the beginning” because there are so many new obesity drugs being developed.

Some US health insurers and many European healthcare systems are restricting access to the drugs because of the cost implications given the number of obese and overweight patients. In the US, the list price for a month’s supply of Wegovy is more than $1,300.

Generic drugs tend to be 80 to 85 per cent cheaper than branded medicines, according to the US Food and Drug Administration.

When patents on weight loss drugs expire, generic versions are likely to be in very high demand.

Novo Nordisk said patent expiry was a “natural part of the pharmaceutical product lifestyle” and the company was “exploring new molecules, combinations and formulations of treatments, both organically and through external opportunities”.

“The market potential and opportunity to treat more patients continues to remain strong,” it said.

Hikma was founded in Jordan and is the second largest drugmaker in the Middle East and north Africa by sales, after French pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

Mishlawi said weight loss drugs are very popular in the region. He added that the company was “always racing to be the first” maker of generic products in the Middle East. Shares in the company have risen 17 per cent in the past year.

Hikma launched liraglutide, a generic version of an earlier Novo Nordisk weight loss drug, in the US in December. Liraglutide, which Novo sells as Victoza for diabetes and Saxenda for weight loss, has been shown in clinical trials to help patients lose about 5 to 7 per cent of their body weight, compared to about 15 per cent for Ozempic or Wegovy.

Mishlawi said the price of generic liraglutide had plummeted even though there are only two drugmakers selling it — Hikma and Teva — in the US.

“I don’t think it has hit rock bottom yet, but I think with one or two more players, it will easily get to that level,” he said.