CHINA Beijing authorizes the drug to lose weight (while obesity multiplies)

Wegovy, from the Danish Novo Nordisk, received approval from the authorities, while other pharmaceutical multinationals are also keeping an eye on a growing market. According to some official studies, in 2030 there will be 540 million overweight people in China, almost triple the number recorded in 2000.

Shanghai (/Agencies) – China opens its doors to Wegovy, a very popular weight loss drug produced by the pharmaceutical multinational Novo Nordisk. Beyond its economic implications, the news highlights a little-known aspect of Chinese society. Indeed, it is estimated that the People’s Republic of China is one of the countries where obesity is most widespread today. The number of overweight adults in China, the world’s second most populous country after India, is expected to reach 540 million in 2030, 2.8 times higher than 2000 levels, a Chinese public health study showed. in 2020. The number of obese people is set to increase 7.5 times, reaching 150 million.

In this context, pharmaceutical companies look to Beijing as a strategic market for this type of products. Novo Nordisk said in March that it would initially target Chinese patients willing to pay out of pocket for their weekly injectable medication. Now, however, Raffles Hospital Beijing, a major hospital in the Chinese capital, could place an order around September, he told Reuters Rose Niu Wei, marketing director of the private hospital. Novo may have little time to capitalize on its first-mover advantage in the Chinese weight-loss drug market because its patent on semaglutide, Wegovy’s key ingredient, expires in less than two years in China and Local pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop generic or biosimilar versions.

The group could also soon face competition from its US rival Eli Lilly. Some analysts believe that its Zepound, a drug 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 doing everything necessary to increase production in a weight-loss market that is estimated to reach at least $100 billion globally by the end of the decade.