As the obesity rate rises, Beijing set to authorise weight loss drug
Chinese authorities approved Wegovy, by the Danish Novo Nordisk. Other pharmaceutical multinationals are also looking at China’s increasingly profitable market. According to official studies, the country will have 540 million overweight people by 2030, almost three times as many as in 2000.
Shanghai (AsiaNews/Agencies) – China is opening its doors to Wegovy, a very popular weight loss drug manufactured by Novo Nordisk, a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company.
Beyond its economic implications, the decision highlights a little-known aspect of Chinese society: Like many other countries, the People's Republic of China is tackling a serious obesity crisis.
The number of overweight adults in China, now the world's second-most populous country after India, is set to reach 540 million by 2030, 2.8 times higher than 2000 levels, a Chinese public health study showed in 2020. Likewise, the number of obese people is set to increase 7.5-fold, to 150 million.
Given this situation, pharmaceutical companies are looking to China as a strategic market for this type of product.
In March, Novo Nordisk said it would initially target Chinese patients willing to pay out of pocket for their weekly injectable drug.
Recently, Raffles Hospital Beijing, a major medical facility in the Chinese capital, announced that it could place an order around September, Rose Niu Wei, the private hospital's marketing chief, told Reuters.
If it moves fast, Novo might be able to make the most of its advantage as the top manufacturer in China's weight loss drug market. Timing is crucial. Its patent on semaglutide, Wegovy's key ingredient, will expire in less than two years in China, and local drugmakers are racing to develop generic or biosimilar versions.
Still, the company could soon face competition from a US rival, Eli Lilly. Some analysts are predicting that its Zepound drug, which is based on another active ingredient (tirzepatide), will be approved in China this year or in the first half of 2025.
Both Eli Lilly and Novo are racing to ramp up production in a weight loss market that is expected to reach at least US$ 100 billion globally by the end of the decade.
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13/10/2004
24/10/2017 14:47
