In what
has dubbed “Novo Nordisk’s Canadian Mistake,” Ozempic is quickly to come back off patent in Canada, opening the door to cheaper generic copycats, after the drug big reportedly didn’t pay just a few hundred {dollars} in annual charges to keep up the patent rights earlier than the weight-loss drug grew to become a blockbuster vendor.
As
Science
reported, a patent, as soon as lapsed, can’t be restored. Novo Nordisk will proceed to carry its U.S. patent till 2032.
Ozempic was already the third most prescribed drug in Canada final 12 months with 7,390,000 prescriptions disbursed, a 17 per cent improve over 2023, in keeping with drug analytics analysis agency IQVIA.
A number of purposes for generic semaglutide, the energetic compound in Novo Nordisk’s injectable medication Ozempic and Wegovy, at the moment are earlier than Well being Canada. Final week,
introduced plans to increase into Canada subsequent 12 months and provide generic semaglutide at a big low cost.
Richard Saynor, the top of Sandoz, a worldwide chief in generic and biosimilar medication, informed
in June that his firm has filed for approval for a generic semaglutide in Canada as soon as Novo Nordisk’s patent exclusivity expires “someday in Q1 subsequent 12 months.”
Canada is the globe’s second-biggest semaglutide market, Saynor informed Endpoint Information. “You gotta ask why. I don’t assume Canadians are disproportionately massive. There’s clearly a dynamic, like insulin, with cross-border enterprise,” he mentioned. People with diabetes have crossed into Canada to purchase insulin at
Ozempic and Wegovy price about $5,000 per 12 months. If cash is now not an element, if chemically-identical medication are cheaper and extra inexpensive, “that’s going to alter the calculus for many individuals,” mentioned Justin Lehmiller, a senior analysis fellow at Indiana College’s Kinsey Institute and co-author of a brand new survey exploring the affect that weight-loss medication — formally often known as GLP-1 agonists — are having on relationship and intimacy.
The survey of two,000 single People (aged 18 to 91) led by Kinsey with DatingNews.com discovered eight per cent reported having used a GLP-1 remedy for weight reduction prior to now 12 months.
Among the many GLP-1 customers, 16 per cent mentioned exes had reached out to reconnect, 14 per cent mentioned they have been getting extra matches on relationship apps and 12 per cent mentioned they have been happening extra dates. The medication appeared to be doing extra to booster “on-line relationship success” for males than for ladies, the researchers mentioned.
“A few of the research and analysis that I’ve seen counsel that males solely match one in 100 occasions on relationship apps the place for ladies, it’s extra like one in 10,” Lehmiller mentioned. “An attractiveness enhance for males, which frequently accompanies utilizing these medication, may translate right into a a lot greater affect for them on the earth of relationship.”
Males, nonetheless, have been almost twice as prone to girls to say they feared being judged or shamed for taking Ozempic or different GLP-1 medication.
“There are some masculinity considerations which are tied up on this,” mentioned Lehmiller, a social psychologist. Males may fear about being accused of dishonest, he mentioned. “It could be considered as an indication of weak spot for turning to a drug versus losing a few pounds via ‘laborious work.’”
About half of the GLP-1 customers additionally mentioned the drugs affect their intercourse lives, in each constructive and adverse methods: 18 per cent mentioned their sexual want elevated, whereas 16 per cent mentioned it dropped. Sixteen per cent mentioned their sexual perform improved; 12 per cent mentioned it worsened. It’s a nuanced image, Lehmiller mentioned. “These medication appear to be affecting totally different folks in numerous methods.”
“And I feel that is sensible: There may be numerous variability within the unwanted effects folks expertise on these medication.” Extra unwanted effects may imply extra adverse affect on intimacy, he mentioned. The medication have additionally been related to a barely greater danger o
f erectile dysfunction and testosterone deficiency
in males taking semaglutide for weight problems in comparison with males not taking the drug.
About one in 5 within the relationship survey mentioned the medication are creating extra stigma in opposition to being obese. “Altering requirements of attractiveness could be creating extra strain for folks to look a sure approach or use these drugs,” Lehmiller mentioned.
A examine printed this week within the
Canadian Medical Affiliation Journal
discovered 32.7 per cent of adults in Canada (10.6 million folks) have been overweight in 2023, an eight per cent soar over 2009.
Generic semaglutide received’t be as low-cost as Aspirin. “It’s nonetheless going to be a price,” mentioned Dr. Hertzel Gerstein, an endocrinologist and professor in McMaster College’s division of medication. “And that doesn’t relieve a accountable well being practitioner of assessing a affected person earlier than they prescribe the remedy,” he mentioned.
“Is it potential that extra folks could be keen to pay out of pocket in the event that they don’t have insurance coverage protection for the drug? Positive, if it’s cheaper,” Gerstein mentioned.
“There could also be extra demand for it. Individuals want to know the dangers and advantages.”
Taken as soon as every week by injection, Ozempic and Wegovy work by mimicking a hormone — glucagon-like peptide-1 — the small gut releases when folks eat. GLP-1 tips the physique into considering it’s full. It really works on the mind to cut back urge for food and curiosity in persevering with to eat, and works on the abdomen to gradual how briskly it empties in order that meals lingers within the abdomen longer.
Semaglutide has been studied extensively, Gerstein mentioned. The quantity of weight misplaced is said to the dosage: the upper the dose, the extra weight dropped. In folks with sort 2 diabetes, the drug can scale back the necessity for insulin, or the dosage. “However most significantly these medication unequivocally scale back the long run danger of great well being outcomes, together with coronary heart assaults, strokes, dying from cardiovascular causes” and coronary heart failure signs when used long-term, “within the two- to five-year window of time,” Gerstein mentioned.
A
printed earlier this 12 months primarily based on well being information from greater than two million People veterans with diabetes discovered that, in comparison with extra conventional medication, GLP-1 use was related to a diminished danger of substance use (alcohol, hashish, stimulants and opioids), psychotic issues reminiscent of schizophrenia, seizures, a number of respiratory situations and neurocognitive illnesses like Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The magnitude of the related advantages — a couple of 10 to twenty per cent discount for many outcomes — was modest, in keeping with a background launch, although the researchers mentioned they don’t “negate” the potential worth of the medication.
There have been, nonetheless, a number of drawbacks, together with an elevated danger of gastrointestinal issues (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), low blood strain, fainting, arthritic issues, kidney issues and drug-induced pancreatitis related to GLP-1 medication in comparison with regular care.
Nothing is assured, Gerstein mentioned. “I at all times inform sufferers we don’t know precisely what it’ll do in you. And weight reduction, if it’s going to occur, often takes a month or two to begin” and plateaus at round eight months. Individuals don’t shed some pounds indefinitely. “There’s undoubtedly a plateau. You don’t preserve losing a few pounds,” he mentioned. The medication yield a mean weight lack of round 15 per cent, and weight also can rebound quickly as soon as the medication are stopped.
Ozempic has been authorized in Canada for diabetes however is commonly used “off label” for weight problems. Wegovy has been authorized for weight problems.
In an electronic mail to Nationwide Publish, Novo Nordisk, the one present firm in Canada with Well being Canada-approved merchandise containing semaglutide, mentioned “all mental property choices are fastidiously thought-about at a worldwide degree.
“Intervals of exclusivity for pharmaceutical merchandise finish as a part of their regular lifecycle and generic therapies might turn into accessible over time.”
“At the moment, no Well being Canada-approved generic variations of semaglutide exist and we can not speculate on different producers’ plans,” the corporate mentioned.
Nationwide Publish
Our web site is the place for the most recent breaking information, unique scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and join our newsletters right here.
