New oral diabetes + obesity drug's India sales surge 100%

New Delhi: Novo Nordisk's oral semaglutide tablet, branded Rybelsus, is gaining popularity in India though doctors have cautioned against indiscriminate use of the drug approved for treating diabetes and also for weight reduction.

Sales of the drug have more than doubled in the past year to ₹363 crore in April from ₹147 crore a year earlier, showed data from market researcher Pharmarack.

Touted as a game changer for treating Type 2 diabetes, Rybelsus was launched in an oral form in India in 2022. The pill is marketed in three strengths (3, 7 and 14 mg), and is priced at about ₹10,000 a month.

Since its launch, India is seeing a spurt in sales of anti-obesity drugs with the market tripling in two years, recovering from sluggish growth till 2021, according to Pharmarack.

"The anti-obesity market has itself tripled because of Rybelsus," said Sheetal Sapale, vice president, commercial at Pharmarack. From ₹24 crore in April 2022, sales of the drug have soared to ₹147 crore in April 2023, and further to ₹363 crore in April this year.

Over the last five years, the anti-obesity drug market has expanded at a compound annual growth rate of 32 per cent to ₹474 crore in January this year.

According to Pharmarack data, Semaglutide has around 66 per cent of the value market share in the anti-obesity segment, followed by Dapagliflozin, another medication for Type 2 diabetes.

Sapale said Semaglutide is expected to sustain its sales growth momentum in India, given the high obesity rate.

Overweight prevalence rate in the country is currently close to 22 per cent for the male population, 23 per cent for females and nearly 11 per cent for children.

"One in four adults falls in the overweight category. Almost 5 per cent of the Indian population of 1.4 billion falls in the morbidly obese category. These statistics indicate that as India grows to become a superpower, it is also adapting disease patterns of countries in this bracket," Sapale said.