Stories
Why the Booming Weight Loss Market is Drawing Global Pharma Giants to India
- •Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are expanding their footprint in India, driven by the rapidly growing weight loss and obesity drug market.
- •Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks highlights that India plays a crucial role in global R&D, contributing to one-third of the company's work and clinical trials.
- •The Indian weight loss market surged to 2,300 crore rupees, boosted by the launch of blockbuster drugs like Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Ozempic.
- •Global pharma companies are increasingly utilizing India for localized clinical trials, manufacturing partnerships, and process development.
- •Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are integrating artificial intelligence into their research pipelines to accelerate drug discovery and optimize clinical trials.
Key Questions Answered
Driven by the booming weight loss drugs market, global pharma giants Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are looking at India afresh, moving beyond treating it merely as a market for cheaper generics or a place to delay new launches. India is now a critical hub for global drug development and clinical trials, and companies are also expanding their manufacturing and contract manufacturing networks in the country.
Eli Lilly launched Mounjaro in India in March 2025, and by October it became the country's top-selling drug by value. Meanwhile, India's weight loss category grew significantly following semaglutide going off patent on March 20, 2026, which triggered the launch of 23 generic versions within 24 hours. According to Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks, this flood of lower-priced generics did not hurt Mounjaro's growth but instead expanded the overall market by bringing in price-sensitive consumers.
Oral GLP-1 pills are expected to launch in India in the first half of 2027. These oral treatments provide alternatives for patients who prefer lower prices or wish to avoid injections. While Novo Nordisk utilizes a peptide approach for its oral semaglutide, Eli Lilly's oral pill Foundayo (orforglipron) uses a small chemical compound instead of an amino acid chain, making production easier to scale up.
