Novo Nordisk AS is reducing costs of its high-selling WeGovy weight-loss drug in China, as the Danish drugmaker braces for intense competition from native opponents next Twelve months when the patent for its blockbuster medicine ends.
The company did not give runt print on new costs, but a native media outlet Yicai reported earlier that list costs for the 2 most reasonable possible dosages of WeGovy were lower by 48% to 987 yuan ($141) and 1,284 yuan month-to-month, respectively, in some Chinese language provinces.
“We can verify that we’re adjusting our costs of Wegovy in China,” Novo Nordisk advised Reuters in an announcement on Monday (29 December 2025). “We predict about this pricing adjustment in China will further back alleviate the medication burden for patients and toughen their quality of life.”
Over 65% of China’s inhabitants of spherical 1.4 billion could also very smartly be overweight or overweight by 2030, making it a growing market for weight-loss medicine.
With Novo’s patent on WeGovy’s vigorous ingredient semaglutide expiring in 2026 in China and some completely different major markets, Chinese language drugmakers—including CSPC Pharmaceutical Neighborhood and Hangzhou Jiuyuan Genetic Biopharmaceutical Co.—are growing their contain versions of the drug and others are gearing as much as originate opponents.
Yicai, citing native procurement authorities, had reported that the price cuts could be made within the southwestern Chinese language provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan.
Novo Nordisk slashed WeGovy costs by as much as 37% in India final month, because it looks to abolish floor in yet every other fast-emerging market for obesity treatments. Novo and US rival Eli Lilly—each and each shifting in direction of money-paying shoppers—also agreed to lower US costs in November.
