Bangladesh gets a head start over India in export of weight-loss drugs to emerging markets

Earlier this month, the Delhi high court, in separate judgements, allowed Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries to manufacture and export generic semaglutide to non-patent-holding countries. However, both companies cannot sell the drug domestically until innovator Novo Nordisk loses its patent-exclusivity rights in the country in March 2026.While experts said the move by Dr Reddy’s and Sun Pharma is to grab an early-mover advantage in selling the blockbuster weight-loss drug, the companies won’t be the first to enter non-patented markets.

Bangladesh is already there.Countries including Bangladesh, by virtue of their ‘least-developed country’ status under the World Trade Organization's agreement on intellectual property rights, are exempt from granting full patent exclusivity to companies for pharmaceutical products. This allows pharma companies in Bangladesh to reverse-engineer and manufacture patented drugs until 2030, just as India did until it became a WTO signatory and stopped these practices in 2005.Using this exemption, Bangladesh’s manufacturers have flooded various markets with low-cost generic semaglutide for over two years.

Semaglutide is a drug to treat Type 2 diabetes and chronic weight management.However, entry into regulated markets will depend on approvals as patents expire, and brand-building will be key, experts said. Competition in rest-of-the-world (RoW) markets will be stiff.“RoW competition is more severe from countries like Bangladesh, where regulations are not so strict, compliances are not monitored,” Namit Joshi, chairman of the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India, or Pharmexcil, told Mint.India’s generic drugmakers have been raring to roll out cheaper copies of