With global consultants McKinsey ranking obesity therapies alongside AI, electric vehicles and robotics as trillion-dollar opportunities by 2040, India is emerging as a critical battleground, The Times of India reported.
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The domestic anti-obesity market, valued at just over ₹1,000 crore on a moving annual total basis to November, has grown nearly ten-fold in five years. Industry executives and analysts say this momentum is set to accelerate in 2026 as awareness improves and affordability widens.
Lifestyle diseases push demand
India has close to 100 million adults living with diabetes, alongside a growing burden of obesity-linked conditions. This epidemiological shift is forcing pharma companies to rethink portfolios and focus on chronic, long-term therapies.
“With lifestyle diseases on the rise, there is a growing need for holistic, patient-centric solutions. Wider access to GLP-1 medicines (glucagon-like peptide-1) for obesity and diabetes will help reduce the burden of these conditions,” Kirti Ganorkar, managing director of Sun Pharma, told The Times of India.
Global blockbusters arrive at India-specific prices
Global leaders Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have already launched blockbuster GLP-1 therapies in India. Wegovy and Ozempic from Novo Nordisk, and Mounjaro from Eli Lilly, entered the market this year with pricing tailored for India.
“India is entering a transformative phase in obesity and chronic weight-management care, driven by a rising disease burden, greater recognition of obesity as a chronic disease, and broader access to evidence-based prescription therapies,” said Winselow Tucker, president and GM, Eli Lilly India. “Recent industry developments underscore strong patient demand and an expanding range of treatment options aimed at improving access and outcomes.”
Lilly’s Mounjaro, launched earlier in March, quickly gained traction and became the top-selling therapy by value in October, benefiting from first-mover advantage and claims of greater weight loss.
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Race against generics
Now, this is not just competition among peers, but has widened to something larger, the generics.
The next phase of growth will be shaped by the entry of cheaper generics. More than 20 Indian drugmakers, including Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s, Cipla, Zydus and Lupin, are preparing to launch low-cost versions once the patent on semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic, expires in March next year.
“The focus is clearly moving toward drugs such as GLP-1 therapies, alongside digital health solutions and preventive lifestyle programmes. In near-term, deeper partnerships among pharma companies, consumer health players and digital platforms are expected to play a role in improving access beyond major urban centres,” TOI quoted Bhanu Prakash Kalmath SJ, healthcare industry leader at Grant Thornton Bharat, as saying.
Analysts cited in a Reuters report dated Wednesday expect generic versions to be priced about 60% lower, intensifying competition in India’s price-sensitive market. “We believe that this market can be more than $1 billion within two years,” Shrikant Akolkar, vice-president at Nuvama Institutional Equities, told Reuters.
Despite this, Novo Nordisk has played down concerns around patent expiry. “We realized just after a couple of months that for accessibility, we had to take a price cut,” Vikrant Shrotriya, managing director of Novo Nordisk India, said, referring to the recent reduction in Wegovy prices.
Competition is no longer limited to pricing. Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are expanding doctor outreach, clinic tie-ups and patient engagement programmes, while working with Indian partners to deepen distribution.
Lilly has partnered with Cipla to push its tirzepatide-based therapy into smaller towns and tied up with Apollo Hospitals for awareness initiatives. Novo Nordisk has joined hands with Emcure Pharmaceuticals, digital health platforms and hospitals to widen access beyond major cities.
Demand is now spreading beyond urban elites to middle-class families, office workers and patients in smaller towns, signalling a broader structural shift in obesity care.
AI, advanced therapies and portfolio shifts
Alongside obesity drugs, pharmaceutical companies are increasing AI-led investments across research, manufacturing and commercial operations to boost productivity and efficiency. Many domestic firms are also scaling up R&D in advanced biologics and complex therapies.
“The convergence of AI and digital technologies and personalised medicine will accelerate innovation. At the same time, India’s emerging ecosystem for affordable cell and gene therapies is opening new frontiers in advanced care, strengthening its position as a global innovation hub. The continued expansion of biosimilars and complex biologics will further democratise access to cutting-edge treatments worldwide, while the rapid growth of CRDMOs will establish India as a preferred destination for high-value outsourcing in an era of supply-chain reconfiguration,” Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, executive chairperson of Biocon told TOI.
Domestic companies are focusing more on advanced biologics, GLs, antibody-drug conjugates, and cell and gene therapies, while gradually moving away from simple generics, according to Srikanth Mahadevan, director at Deloitte India.
(With inputs from Reuters and TOI)
