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Diabetes News: Good for What Ails Some of You [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-07-16

Meanwhile,

The Battle for Billions: Understanding the Ozempic Patent Landscape

Most significantly, its patent in China is set to expire in 2026, which means that the entry of generics could make China the largest market for semaglutide medications. Ozempic was approved in China in 2021. Currently, at least 15 Chinese pharmaceutical companies are developing generic versions, with 11 candidates in final-stage clinical trials. Major companies such as United Laboratories, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group, and Huadong Medicine are expecting launches of their generics between 2025 and 2027.

The patent landscape for Ozempic (semaglutide) is a prime example of a global pharmaceutical strategy. While Novo Nordisk’s patent in the US is set to expire in 2032 , its patents in other markets are set to expire much sooner. This variation in expiration dates stems from patent term extensions that Novo secured in different regions, creating a complex environment for potential generic producers.

Ozempic’s Selection for Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Could Raise the Stakes for the Negotiation Program

As expected, semaglutide, a drug known by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, has been selected for the second round of Medicare drug price negotiation, one of 15 drugs covered by Medicare with the highest total drug spending and lacking generic competition in 2024. Republican lawmakers and allied groups have proposed to repeal the law and the drug negotiation program, but President-elect Trump has neither publicly endorsed nor disavowed these proposals. In the first cycle of negotiations, Medicare negotiated with the participating drug manufacturers and reached agreement on new, lower prices for all 10 drugs. Those prices will become effective starting January 1, 2026. If the new prices had been in effect in 2023, they would have saved an estimated $6 billion in net covered prescription drug costs, or approximately 22 percent, across the 10 selected drugs. The new, lower prices range from 38 to 79 percent discounts off of list prices. In 2026, people with Medicare prescription drug coverage are expected to see aggregated estimated savings of $1.5 billion in their personal out-of-pocket costs.

We will at some point do much better than that, with Medicare for All and for Everything. That will at a minimum require a solid trifecta win in 2028, and maybe more than that.

The new prices will be announced later this year, and will take effect in 2027. Then in 2032 we can expect US-made generics for Ozempic and Wegovy. In the meantime, we have the new $2000/year cap on Medicare medications saving patients vast sums this year and the next on semaglutides and other overpriced drugs. All of these developments will save lives, no matter how hard this maladministration tries to kill us off.

You know, we can do something about that. There is no reason why we should have to take it any more.

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