Novo loses share in Brazil to cheaper generics, but holds up in Canada and India

Novo Nordisk is losing market share in Brazil after its semaglutide ‌patent expired, driving a 3% decline in emerging market sales in the third quarter, CEO Mike Doustdar told Reuters, while the drugmaker has largely held its ground in Canada and India.

Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo’s blockbuster obesity drug ‌Wegovy and diabetes medicine Ozempic, lost patent protection in Brazil in March this year, opening the market ‌to cheaper copies. “In Brazil, it’s really about price, price, price, and a lot of players there,” Doustdar said in an interview after Novo reported third-quarter results well above forecasts. “We are actually struggling a bit in that big market and have lost share.”

He said Brazil’s size among ⁠emerging markets ​explained the fall in sales ⁠in that category. While sales in Europe and Canada combined grew 19% in the three months, emerging markets declined 3%, he said. The ⁠picture was better in Canada, where semaglutide patent protection lapsed in January, and in India, where it ended in March.

“It’s gone ​reasonably well, I would say, in Canada, despite the loss of exclusivity,” Doustdar said. “We’ve kept a very large ⁠part of our business and patients in Canada.” He said generic makers had run into supply problems and delays in Canada, but ⁠warned ​that “it could be that it gets a bit more stormy.”

Still, Novo had been able to compete at lower prices and win "some decent volumes", he said, adding that Canada had gone "much better than any one ⁠of us had thought". In India, Novo has lost some market share, but less than it feared. Doustdar said ⁠generic rivals had priced “really ⁠low” and Novo had chosen not to follow them, keeping prices well above theirs.

"A lot of Indians have decided to stay with us because of our brand and ‌the quality that ‌they can demand of our products," he said.