Dr Reddy’s launches two new semaglutide brands after Obeda injection supply disruption

Highlights:

DR REDDY’S Laboratories has introduced two new brands, Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus, in India’s semaglutide market following supply disruptions affecting its existing Obeda injection, according to product photographs and marketing materials reviewed by Reuters.

The two products are manufactured by Hetero Labs, a different company from the contract manufacturer that produced the original Obeda injection. Supplies of Obeda were halted in July after Dr Reddy’s discovered an impurity in the active ingredient.

Several distributors told Reuters that Dr Reddy’s was likely to discontinue supplies of Obeda and focus instead on Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus.

“The company said there were some technical issues with Obeda injectable, and they recalled stocks from us. They said they would instead supply Obeda Pro,” a drug distributor said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Dr Reddy’s said development and launch planning for the two products had begun before the July supply disruption.

“The development and launch planning for products such as Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus were under way well before the July supply disruption issues,” the company said in response to a Reuters request for comment.

“The presence of multiple semaglutide brands and manufacturing arrangements reflects the breadth of our portfolio strategy and should not be interpreted as evidence that one product was launched to replace another,” it said.

Dr Reddy’s recalled Obeda injections in July “for technical evaluation,” according to a notice reviewed by Reuters. The company did not respond to a question on whether the recall was linked to the impurity. The oral version of the drug was not recalled.

Dr Reddy’s launched Obeda in India in March after semaglutide lost patent protection in the country. The product is a generic version of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic. The patent expiry prompted domestic pharmaceutical companies to compete to introduce lower-cost versions of semaglutide.

The drug suppresses appetite and is also the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy. Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus are available in different dose strengths, as are Ozempic and Wegovy.

Research firm Pharmarack estimated in March that India’s domestic market for semaglutide drugs would grow to `80 billion ($843.99 million) by 2030.

In July, Dr Reddy’s said supplies of Obeda injections would remain unavailable until November. Analysts warned at the time that the company risked losing market share in India’s semaglutide market if supplies were not restored quickly. Dr Reddy’s did not respond to a question on whether it had resolved the impurity issue.

Packaging materials reviewed by Reuters identified contract manufacturer OneSource Specialty Pharma as the producer of Obeda. Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus are manufactured by Hetero Labs. Supply invoices reviewed by Reuters showed that the two new brands began appearing in the market in late July.

Hetero Labs and OneSource Specialty Pharma did not respond to requests for comment. According to Pharmarack, Dr Reddy’s sold about 442,000 units of generic semaglutide in India through September. Sun Pharma, India’s largest drugmaker, sold 151,000 units over the same period.