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Something strange has happened with the patent that protects Ozempic In Canada. By mistake or by strategic decision, Novo Nordisk, the company responsible for developing the semaglutida, the compound on which the popular drug is based has been without paying the maintenance rates of this patent.
An error of millions. The surprise jumped a few days ago. The chemist and expert disseminator in Pharmaceutical Industry Derek Lowe indicated Through an article in Science that the Danish pharmaceutical 370 dollars Canadians annual) that protects the compound on which drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are based.
According to the Canada patent databasethe status of this patent is that of “expired and beyond the reversal period.” According to the Canadian Law, companies have a 12 -month grace period for claims and payment of late payments (another 150 Canadian dollars today). A period that would have already exceeded.
Rubbing his hands. History began to reveal itself earlier this month. In an interview With the media specialized in pharmaceutical industry, Richard Saynor, CEO of Sandoz, talked about launching a generic medicine based on the peptide similar to glucagon 1 (LPG-1), the hormone to which the semaglutida to make its antidiabetic and slimming effect.
As Lowe explains in his piece, the competition in the generic market can become “extremely beast.” Companies dedicated to this type of drugs seek as much as possible the patents, looking for failures that can invalidate them and thus be able to enter new markets.
And today there are few markets as tempting as that of agonists of the GLP-1 hormone receptors such as Ozempic, Wegovy or Rybelsus. This family of drugs, oriented in its origin to treat diabetes, has achieved immense success for its slimming effect, triggering a whole revolution not only pharmaceutical, but also economic.
A permeable border. An important detail mentioned by Saynor in its interview is that Canada is the second major semaglutidal market (after the United States). This would not be, speculate, because Canadians are great consumers of the drug, but is probably a consequence of the cross -border business.
“There is clearly a dynamic, as with insulin, with business through the border,” Explains the director of Sandoz. “It will be interesting how this evolves,” he says.
Evil of many … The expiration of the patent in Canada would not only affect Novo Nordisk but also could suppose a hard blow to its main competitor in the diabetes treatments and weight loss, the American Eli Lilly. The entrance into the market of a generic competitor would imply that the manufacturing company of Zepbound and Mounjaro. These drugs are based on the tirzepatida, a compound that acts as an analogue of the LPG-1 and also of another hormone called polypeptide gastric inhibitor or GIP.
A mistake? An error? We began pointing out that patents are a fundamental pillar of the pharmaceutical industry which makes the doubt prevailing: why? It is difficult to know if everything is due to a simple error or a calculated strategy. “I never knew why this is sure that someone lost their job, but it doesn’t matter,” Saynor held in his interview.
If it were a mistake, it would not be a mere mistake. According to Lowe explainsthe company showed in writing there by 2017 its reluctance to the payment of the maintenance rate of the Canadian patent of the Semaglutida. He boom Ozempic would not be given until years later, because perhaps the company was not able to anticipate success and considered the price of maintaining a patent in the North American country.
Image | Rene Baker / Chemist4u
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