Categories: Health

Hims & Hers offers a generic semaglutid as Novo Nordisk patent gaps

Hims & Hers Health Announced on Wednesday, it will be generic semaglutid in Canada as offer Novo NordiskThe patent about the marksmiths that Ozempic and Wegovy are supposed to run in January.

“Canada is a great opportunity to show what an affordable and high -quality weight loss care can look like,” said Andrew Dudum, co -founder and CEO of HIMS & HULS, in a press release. “Since the generic semaglutid is available worldwide for the first time, we focus on making it really accessible by combining the affordability with trustworthy, personalized care on a scale.”

HIMS, a telemedicine platform, is followed by a growing list of drug manufacturers that are redeemed on the past Patent of Novo Nordisk on his GLP-1. It is the first time that the company works in Canada.

Generics are essentially copies of a brand medication such as Ozempic or Wegven that deliver the same effectiveness, follow the same safety standards and are permitted after a patent. These drugs differ from composite versions of medication that are personalized treatments that are changed in the form or are provided in the form of doses available in different doses.

The Canadian Semaglutide market in 2024 generated sales of $ 1.18 billion and, according to the market research company Grand View Research, will probably achieve $ 4.03 billion by 2035.

There is still no generic version of Semaglutid on the market that was approved by the Canadian health authority, but the approval process has started for some in the industry.

Sandoz, a worldwide leading provider of generic medicine, informed science in early June that she submitted a generic version of Semaglutide with the Canadian regulatory authority Health Canada. HIMS did not say in his announcement that if he started a similar application for review, however, it found that it was working with “an approved partner” to ensure that all local laws and regulations follow.

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Some in the industry have expressed concerns that Novo leaves its patent losses and it comes how Wegovy has lost the ground Eli Lilly“Zepbound, in the USA, but a spokesman for the company said CNBC that all decisions for intellectual property are” carefully taken into account “, and that” Time periods of exclusivity for pharmaceutical products can be available as part of their normal life cycle and generic treatments over time “.

This announcement of HIMS follows the closure of the recent takeover of the European Telegealth platform Zava by the company that extends the health platform in Europe to Ireland, France and Germany.

This also happens after Nordisk ended his cooperation with Hims & Husen, and cited concerns about the sales and promotion of cheaper failures of the company in weight loss medication.

How Novo lost his Canadian patent

According to documents submitted to the Canadian patent database, Novo kept a patent for Semaglutid, but the last time the company paid the annual maintenance fee in 2018.

The lawyers from Novo Nordisk requested a refund for the paid maintenance fee of $ 250 in Canadian dollars ($ 185) because the company had more time to check whether it wanted to pay them, according to the letters contained in the documents.

Two years later, the office sent a letter in which the fee in which a late fee now contained the total amount received to $ 450 did not enter into after the prescribed due date.

Novo Nordisk had to pay a one -year grace, but never, and so his patent in Canada has fallen for falling. It ended in 2020 when the fee had not been received, but it only expired in January.

The Canadian authorities confirmed in their correspondence: “As soon as a patent has expired, it cannot be revived”.

“To make affordable, holistic obesity treatment accessible has the potential to strengthen the local health system and to act the potential for millions of Canadians, to live a healthier and more fulfilling life,” said David Meinertz, General Manager of the International company at HIMS & HOR.