A drug for obesity treatment, analogue of Wegovy, will be launched in Russia
GEROPHARM was granted a clinical study authorisation for a Wegovy analogue, which, along with Ozempic, is an injectable semaglutide for treating obesity. So far, Wegovy is not authorised in Russia and is available in neither official sales channels nor under free prescription schemes.
According to official data, more than 10 % of Russians suffer from severe obesity and more than 30 % are overweight and obese. This is a chronic recurrent and disabling condition underlying other pathologies such as type 2 diabetes mellitus and acute and chronic cardiovascular events (strokes, infarctions, etc.).
Obesity can be treated with medicines containing semaglutide as the active ingredient. These medicines are the potential “gold standard” in obesity treatment in the years to come. Semaglutide stimulates insulin secretion and helps reduce glucose levels in the blood, appetite, overall body weight, and fat tissue weight, it beneficially affects blood lipids and reduces systolic blood pressure.
One of the most popular semaglutide-based medicines is Wegovy from Novo Nordisk, Denmark. It is widely used across the world; however, in Russia, it is not authorised and is available neither at pharmacies nor under free prescription schemes.
Russian biotech company GEROPHARM is going to launch the production of its own analogue of Wegovy. On 27 March, the company was granted the clinical study authorisation. The product market launch is scheduled for early 2025.
Abroad, the cost of one-month treatment with the originator is over USD 1000, for example, USD 1300 in the US. For Russian patients, the therapy will be more affordable.
“Obesity is a serious condition affecting the quality of life and life span. That is why Russian patients should have access to state-of-the-art and high-quality therapy. Our company has every opportunity and facility for the development and continuous production of an affordable analogue of Wegovy to cover the Russian healthcare system’s demand for such a product,” Petr Rodionov, GEROPHARM Chief Executive Officer says.
