Latest news with #genericdrugs
Bloomberg
6 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Sun Pharma to Settle US Generics Pricing Case for $200 Million
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. settled claims worth $200 million in an antitrust case in Pennsylvania alleging that the firm, along with others, colluded to fix prices of generic drugs. The units of India's number one drugmaker — Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. and Taro Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. — will pay the suing consumers in exchange for a full release of all claims against them, the company said in a statement to Indian exchanges Thursday.
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Dr Reddy's kicks off India big pharma earnings with narrow profit miss
July 23 (Reuters) - Indian generic drugs maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories ( opens new tab posted a narrow miss of quarterly profit expectations on Wednesday, as it struggled with pricing pressure on drugs and stiff competition in its key North America market. The firm, one of the top three drugmakers in India by revenue, has been strengthening its consumer healthcare portfolio, which includes over-the-counter medicines, nutrition supplements, as it looks to build a strong pipeline of differentiated products beyond its generics business. Its total revenue rose 11.4% to 85.72 billion rupees ($992.21 million) in the June quarter, largely helped by an 11% rise in revenue from domestic business. Revenue from Reddy's biggest market North America fell 11.3% for the quarter. "The decline was primarily due to increased price erosion in certain key products including Lenalidomide," the company said in a statement. Lenalidomide, a generic version of Bristol-Myers Squibb's (BMY.N), opens new tab popular cancer treatment drug Revlimid, has been a key contributor to the company's North America sales since 2022. But Revlimid's patent expiry in 2026 would pave way for more number of players in the market, hurting demand for Dr Reddy's products. Delayed approvals for new drug applications, pricing pressure in the U.S. have been impacting the drugmakers' growth in the market. Revenue from Europe more than doubled, driven by demand for nicotine replacement therapy, which Dr Reddy's bought from British drugmaker Haleon (HLN.L), opens new tab in 2024. Dr Reddy's consolidated net profit increased to 14.18 billion rupees in the quarter ended June 30, below analysts' estimate of 14.94 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG. Rival Cipla ( opens new tab is set to report first quarter results on Friday. ($1 = 86.3930 Indian rupees)
Reuters
a day ago
- Business
- Reuters
Dr Reddy's kicks off India big pharma earnings with profit miss
July 23 (Reuters) - Indian generic drugs maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories ( opens new tab missed quarterly profit expectations on Wednesday, as it struggled with pricing pressure on drugs and stiff competition in its key North America market. The company's consolidated net profit increased to 14.18 billion rupees ($164.2 million) in the quarter ended June 30, below analysts' estimate of 14.94 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG. ($1 = 86.3800 Indian rupees)
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cheaper generic Ozempic is coming to Canada after Novo Nordisk fails to pay patent fee
In what Science magazine has dubbed 'Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake,' Ozempic is soon to come off patent in Canada, opening the door to cheaper generic copycats, after the drug giant reportedly failed to pay a few hundred dollars in annual fees to maintain the patent rights before the weight-loss drug became a blockbuster seller. As Science reported, a patent, once lapsed, can't be restored. Novo Nordisk will continue to hold its U.S. patent until 2032. Ozempic was already the third most prescribed drug in Canada last year with 7,390,000 prescriptions dispensed, a 17 per cent increase over 2023, according to drug analytics research firm IQVIA. Several applications for generic semaglutide, the active compound in Novo Nordisk's injectable drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, are now before Health Canada. Last week, a U.S. telehealth service announced plans to expand into Canada next year and offer generic semaglutide at a significant discount. Richard Saynor, the head of Sandoz, a global leader in generic and biosimilar drugs, told Endpoint News in June that his company has filed for approval for a generic semaglutide in Canada once Novo Nordisk's patent exclusivity expires 'sometime in Q1 next year.' Canada is the globe's second-biggest semaglutide market, Saynor told Endpoint News. 'You gotta ask why. I don't think Canadians are disproportionately large. There's clearly a dynamic, like insulin, with cross-border business,' he said. Americans with diabetes have crossed into Canada to buy insulin at much lower prices. Ozempic and Wegovy cost about $5,000 per year. If money is no longer a factor, if chemically-identical drugs are cheaper and more affordable, 'that's going to change the calculus for many people,' said Justin Lehmiller, a senior research fellow at Indiana University's Kinsey Institute and co-author of a new survey exploring the impact that weight-loss drugs — formally known as GLP-1 agonists — are having on dating and intimacy. The survey of 2,000 single Americans (aged 18 to 91) led by Kinsey with found eight per cent reported having used a GLP-1 medication for weight loss in the past year. Among the GLP-1 users, 16 per cent said exes had reached out to reconnect, 14 per cent said they were getting more matches on dating apps and 12 per cent said they were going on more dates. The drugs seemed to be doing more to booster 'online dating success' for men than for women, the researchers said. 'Some of the studies and research that I've seen suggest that men only match one in 100 times on dating apps where for women, it's more like one in 10,' Lehmiller said. 'An attractiveness boost for men, which often accompanies using these drugs, could translate into a much bigger impact for them in the world of dating.' Men, however, were nearly twice as likely to women to say they feared being judged or shamed for taking Ozempic or other GLP-1 drugs. 'There are some masculinity concerns that are tied up in this,' said Lehmiller, a social psychologist. Men might worry about being accused of cheating, he said. 'It might be viewed as a sign of weakness for turning to a drug as opposed to losing weight through 'hard work.'' About half of the GLP-1 users also said the medications impact their sex lives, in both positive and negative ways: 18 per cent said their sexual desire increased, while 16 per cent said it dropped. Sixteen per cent said their sexual function improved; 12 per cent said it worsened. It's a nuanced picture, Lehmiller said. 'These drugs seem to be affecting different people in different ways.' 'And I think that makes sense: There is a lot of variability in the side effects people experience on these drugs.' More side effects might mean more negative impact on intimacy, he said. The drugs have also been associated with a slightly higher risk of erectile dysfunction and testosterone deficiency in men taking semaglutide for obesity compared to men not taking the drug. About one in five in the dating survey said the drugs are creating more stigma against being overweight. 'Changing standards of attractiveness might be creating more pressure for people to look a certain way or use these medications,' Lehmiller said. A study published this week in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found 32.7 per cent of adults in Canada (10.6 million people) were obese in 2023, an eight per cent jump over 2009. Generic semaglutide won't be as cheap as Aspirin. 'It's still going to be a cost,' said Dr. Hertzel Gerstein, an endocrinologist and professor in McMaster University's department of medicine. 'And that does not relieve a responsible health practitioner of assessing a patient before they prescribe the medication,' he said. 'Is it possible that more people would be willing to pay out of pocket if they don't have insurance coverage for the drug? Sure, if it's cheaper,' Gerstein said. 'There may be more demand for it. People need to understand the risks and benefits.' Taken once a week by injection, Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking a hormone — glucagon-like peptide-1 — the small intestine releases when people eat. GLP-1 tricks the body into thinking it's full. It works on the brain to reduce appetite and interest in continuing to eat, and works on the stomach to slow how fast it empties so that food lingers in the stomach longer. Semaglutide has been studied extensively, Gerstein said. The amount of weight lost is related to the dosage: the higher the dose, the more weight dropped. In people with type 2 diabetes, the drug can reduce the need for insulin, or the dosage. 'But most importantly these drugs unequivocally reduce the future risk of serious health outcomes, including heart attacks, strokes, death from cardiovascular causes' and heart failure symptoms when used long-term, 'in the two- to five-year window of time,' Gerstein said. A major analysis published earlier this year based on health data from more than two million Americans veterans with diabetes found that, compared to more traditional drugs, GLP-1 use was associated with a reduced risk of substance use (alcohol, cannabis, stimulants and opioids), psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, seizures, several respiratory conditions and neurocognitive diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia. The magnitude of the associated benefits — about a 10 to 20 per cent reduction for most outcomes — was modest, according to a background release, though the researchers said they don't 'negate' the potential value of the drugs. There were, however, several drawbacks, including an increased risk of gastrointestinal disorders (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), low blood pressure, fainting, arthritic disorders, kidney disorders and drug-induced pancreatitis associated with GLP-1 drugs compared to usual care. Nothing is guaranteed, Gerstein said. 'I always tell patients we don't know exactly what it'll do in you. And weight loss, if it's going to happen, usually takes a month or two to start' and plateaus at around eight months. People don't lose weight indefinitely. 'There's definitely a plateau. You do not keep losing weight,' he said. The drugs yield an average weight loss of around 15 per cent, and weight can also rebound rapidly once the drugs are stopped. Ozempic has been approved in Canada for diabetes but is often used 'off label' for obesity. Wegovy has been approved for obesity. In an email to National Post, Novo Nordisk, the only current company in Canada with Health Canada-approved products containing semaglutide, said 'all intellectual property decisions are carefully considered at a global level. 'Periods of exclusivity for pharmaceutical products end as part of their normal lifecycle and generic treatments may become available over time,' the company said. 'Currently, no Health Canada-approved generic versions of semaglutide exist and we cannot speculate on other manufacturers' plans,' it added. National Post Ozempic for kids? Doctors are being encouraged to offer weight-loss drugs to Canadian teens 'It's not going away': How weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are changing the food industry Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here.
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Hims & Hers Health Is Looking to Cash In on This Novo Nordisk Blunder
Hims & Hers Health is entering the Canadian market. The company will offer a generic version of semaglutide in the country after Novo Nordisk let its patent expire there. 10 stocks we like better than Hims & Hers Health › Hims & Hers Health (NYSE: HIMS) is a top telehealth stock that has been growing its business rapidly in recent years. And one of the ways it has done that is by expanding into new markets and reaching a broader range of customers. Recently, it's looking to take advantage of an opportunity that has opened up as a result of a costly mistake that drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) has made. After failing to pay a maintenance fee, the patent on semaglutide will run out in Canada as early as next year. And Hims & Hers is looking to capitalize on that. Hims & Hers Health partnered with Novo Nordisk earlier this year, only for that to unravel shortly afterward due to controversial practices around the sale of compounded drugs. These drugs are knockoff versions of FDA-approved drugs that can be sold when there is a shortage. But Hims & Hers won't have to rely on compounded drugs in one market: Canada. That's because Novo Nordisk is losing patent protection there after the healthcare company failed to pay a maintenance fee that would have allowed the patent on semaglutide (the active ingredient in the weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic) to remain in effect. This will open up the market to generic drugs, which are true copies of the original, without the need for compounded versions. Hims & Hers plans to expand into Canada next year, which is when the patent will expire on semaglutide, and it will sell a generic version of the treatment. In the U.S., Novo has patent protection on semaglutide until 2032. Selling generic drugs is a more sustainable strategy for Hims & Hers than relying on compounded drugs, but it's also not a highly lucrative one. There will be plenty of competition, which is why drugmakers normally go to great lengths to protect their patents to ensure they don't lose market share and can keep their prices high. Last year, the semaglutide market in Canada was worth around $1 billion. Not paying a maintenance fee of a few hundred dollars could prove to be a costly mistake for Novo Nordisk. Even if it's not a huge market for the company, it effectively opens up the door to much more competition and will result in lower sales. The question is how much of a catalyst this may prove to be for Hims & Hers, whose sales last year totaled a little less than $1.5 billion. It will get a slice of the semaglutide market, but how much that will add to its top line will come down to how many Canadian customers it can win over. Hims & Hers stock has doubled in value this year, and that has pushed its valuation up to around $11 billion. While it has done well, it's now trading at a fairly high forward price-to-earnings multiple of 79 (based on analyst estimates), which is extremely high when you consider the S&P 500 average is only 24. Despite its impressive growth in recent years, Hims & Hers Health isn't a stock that I would rush out to buy right now. At such a high valuation, a lot of future growth is already priced in, expectations are high, and that leaves no margin of safety should the business underperform in the future. This is a stock that's safer to put on a watch list than in your portfolio. The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Hims & Hers Health make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,060% vs. just 179% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 881.02%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $679,653!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,046,308!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 15, 2025 David Jagielski has positions in Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Hims & Hers Health. The Motley Fool recommends Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Hims & Hers Health Is Looking to Cash In on This Novo Nordisk Blunder was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
