Generic weight-loss drugs? They're coming - eventually, executive says

By Steve Goldstein

Sandoz, the generics drugmaker spun off from Novartis, is going to get into making cheap versions of the wildly popular GLP-1 class of drugs to treat diabetes and weight loss. But it may take a while.

That's based on remarks Remco Steenbergen, Sandoz's (CH:SDZ) chief financial officer, made on a conference call on Thursday.

Steenbergen, who just joined the company after holding the same role at Deutsche Lufthansa, said investors should think about GLP-1 in two or three phases.

"The first wave of GLP-1s coming off patent really starting [in] Canada in 2026 with semaglutide and then a number of the international markets for the diabetes indication. So you won't see a big step-up there," he said, according to a transcript from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

"And then it's not until sort of the early 2030s that you see the U.S. and Europe starting to come off patent. So it's not as though GLP-1s will come off in one go," he said.

The fact the drugs are injectable won't be an issue. "We are investing heavily in injectable capability anyway. We're already in the auto-injector space," he said.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) on Wednesday said it was feeling price pressure on its weight-loss drug Wegovy, owing to it being placed on several Medicaid plans as well as the launch of Eli Lilly's (LLY) rival Zepbound.

Sandoz more broadly reported an 18% decline in what it calls "core" net income during the first half, to $484 million, while sales rose 6% to $5.05 billion. It also lifted its sales guidance to mid-to-high-single-digit growth at constant currencies, from mid-single-digit growth, for the year.

-Steve Goldstein

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08-08-24 0848ET

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