TMTPost -- Novo Nordisk A/S suggests a careful launch of its blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy in China in the face of tight supply across the globe.
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Per Novo Nordisk’s plan, Wegovy will soon be available in China but the initial sales will be restricted, so that the influx of Chinese patients doesn’t deplete supply for the rest of the world, Maziar Mike Doustdar, the he Danish pharma giant’s chief of international operations, in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. The official added that Novo wants to ensure that people who start the treatment will keep a steady supply of the drug.
“It’s no secret that the demand is enormously larger than the current supply,” Doustdar told the outlet. “We cannot completely open this up on day one to all centers and all doctors and then have a situation where let’s say on Monday we launch the product and by Wednesday or Thursday there’s not enough for those who started it back on Monday.”
Novo Nordisk is striking a delicate balance as the drugmaker seeks meeting pent-up demand in China while taking advantage of wheat may only be a brief head start on its U.S. rival Eli Lilly & Co., Bloomberg commented. It noted Lilly’s popular obesity drug Zepbound is under regulatory review in the country, and a homegrown weight-loss drug co-developed by Lilly and Chinese peer Innovent Biologics Inc. is expected to hit the market next year.
Chinese regulator greenlit sales of Wegovy earlier this week. China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has approved the weekly injectable Wegovy for chronic weight management, according to a statement on Novo Nordisk China’s website released on Tuesday. The drug, developed and produced by Novo Nordisk, is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise for chronic weight management in adults with obesity (initial BMI≥30 kg/m2) or overweight (initial BMI≥27 kg/m2) with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
Wegovy is the world’s first and only once-weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist therapy approved for weight management for people living with obesity. The approval is based on the results from the STEP phase 3a clinical trial programme. Across the trials in people without type 2 diabetes, an average weight loss of 17% sustained over 68 weeks was reported for 25,000 people with obesity treated with Wegovy.
Novo Nordisk didn’t disclose its pricing and timetable of sales but told media outlets that Wegovy for long-term weight management will be available in China as soon as possible. As to whether the drug will be added to the list in China’s annual public bidding for purchase of medical insurance this year, the company said it will arrange for works including to make the drug at public hospitals accessible once regulatory approval gained.
As the world’s second largest economy and the second most populous country, China is a highly promising market for Novo Nordisk and its competitors. It is projected to hold the highest number of overweight or obese people.
More than half of Chinese people age 18 and above are obese or overweight owing to unhealthy diets and static lifestyles, according to a report released by the National Health Commission of China in December, 2020. It showed 34.3% of adult Chinese are overweight and 16.4% are obese. The proportion of the younger population facing weight issues is also alarming. Nearly 20% of youngsters aged 6 to 17 and more than 10% of children younger than 6 are either obese or overweight. The Chinese public health study showed in 2020 that the number of overweight adults in the country is estimated reach 540 million by 2030, 2.8 times higher than 2000 levels. Numbers who are obese are seen jumping 7.5 times to 150 million.
In its capital markets day in March, Novo Nordisk stressed the markets of Greater China including mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The company estimates that the number of people living with obesity in these markets will reach 479 million by 2045, a 161% increase from 2021. Those living with diabetes will rise to 174 million, a 24% increase, over the same period. HSBC expected China’s market for GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy may hit RMB40 billion (US$5.5 billion) by 2030, most of it for obesity.