MUMBAI, Dec. 13 -- Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Friday launched its blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic in India, with a starting price of Rs.2,200 per week. For a four-week course, the entry 0.25 mg dose will be priced at Rs.8,800, positioning the drug squarely in the premium bracket for India's fast-growing obesity and metabolic-health market. The launch comes close on the heels of Wegovy, Novo's dedicated weight-loss injection, which entered the market in June. "It was a very tough decision to bring Ozempic at this price, with a starting cost of Rs.2,200 per week for the 0.25mg dose," Novo Nordisk India managing director Vikrant Shrotriya said at the launch, adding that the company wants more people to benefit from the medicine at an affordable rate when prescribed by doctors in the fight against diabetes and obesity. India's nascent anti-obesity drug market is heating up. Eli Lilly's Mounjaro has taken an early lead since its March launch, becoming a top-selling drug by October. Novo faces additional competitive pressure next year, as semaglutide-the compound behind Ozempic and Wegovy-loses patent exclusivity in March 2026, paving the way for cheaper domestic generics. Mounjaro is priced at Rs.14,000 a month for a 2.5 mg starting dose, rising to Rs.27,500 for the 15 mg dose. Wegovy, after a 37% price cut, starts at Rs.10,850 a month and goes up to Rs.16,400. For Ozempic, the 0.5 mg step-up dose is priced at Rs.10,170 for a four-week pack, while the 1 mg maintenance dose costs Rs.11,175. Novo Nordisk chose to launch oral semaglutide (Rybelsus) before the injectable version, Shrotriya said in an interview. "Then suddenly, the demand for Ozempic soared so much that demand was more than the supply. As the supply normalized, we thought of launching Ozempic because we wanted to make sure that we launch with continuous supply." Bringing Wegovy wasn't a sudden decision, but very well-thought-through, Shrotriya said, calling it an "epic launch." While Wegovy is indicated for chronic weight management, Novo Nordisk is positioning Ozempic as a treatment of type 2 diabetes with weight loss benefits, competing with Eli Lily's Mounjaro that was launched in India in March. The market for anti-obesity drugs in India, which was worth about Rs.600 crore as of July 2025, could grow to Rs.2,000-3,000 crore by FY27, Shrikant Akolkar, pharma research analyst at Nuvama, had earlier told Mint. Originally developed to treat type-2 diabetes, GLP-1 drugs showed potential to treat weight loss and were approved to target obesity specifically. In the last few years, they have taken the world by storm. According to data from B2B pharma e-commerce platform Pharmarack, the Indian market for these drugs is valued at Rs.576 crore as of February 2025....