Health: generics of Ozempic and Wegovy will soon be available

If their price is relatively high and represents colossal sums for health insurance, a major paradigm shift will soon occur. From 2026, Ozempic and Wegovy patents will no longer be protected in Canada, the second largest market in the world, after the USA, for these products. And the Sandoz pharma intends to take advantage of it. It plans to produce and sell generics from the first day the Canadian market opens. “Canada will be our first test market,” rejoices Richard Saynor, director of Sandoz, in the Tages-Anzeiger.

If no price can be articulated for the moment, the imitations will certainly be cheaper than the originals. “We are already seeing this today with other drugs,” explains pharmaceutical expert Stefan Schneider of the investment company Vontobel.

But the Swiss should not rejoice too quickly. Wegovy and Ozempic still have good days ahead of them. Here, the patents will not expire before 2030. And in the USA, in 2035. Moreover, according to experts, it is likely that the shortage of these two products will continue throughout the world, due to the enormous request. And the arrival of generics in Canada should not change anything. Even if many Canadian patients use the new syringes, it will not solve supply problems for Novo Nordisk, which produces the originals.