Anti-obesity drug market on steady growth path in India, shows data

With around 70 million obese people, the market for anti-obesity drugs in India is growing steadily. One in four Indians is overweight, shows official data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2022.

The anti-obesity drugs’ market had a sluggish growth till 2021, says Sheetal Sapale, vice-president, commercial, Pharmarack, a market research firm.

With the launch of Semaglutide (by Novo Nordisk) in January 2022, the market saw phenomenal growth, she adds.

“It has almost tripled in value. Semaglutide now has around 66 per cent of the value market share in the anti-obesity segment,” Sapale says.

 

The anti-obesity market is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore now. It has clocked a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32 per cent. 

Four key molecules in this space are semaglutide, liraglutide, dulaglutide and orlistat. 

Novo Nordisk is the innovator of the first two peptides, while Eli Lilly is the innovator of dulaglutide. Orlistat was developed by Roche.

A person is considered obese if their Body Mass Index (BMI) is above 30. The BMI is defined as the body mass divided by the square of the body height. A BMI above 25 and below 30 is considered as overweight but not obese. 

According to doctors, obesity is leading to serious health complications like diabetes, heart diseases and strokes, among others.

Dr Sukhvinder Singh Saggu, director of minimal access, GI and bariatric surgery, CK Birla Hospital, Delhi, says, “Obesity is impacting millions, leading to serious health conditions like diabetes, heart diseases, stroke, and even certain cancers. This decline in quality of life demands action. Anti-obesity medication is becoming more common and bariatric surgery is the last resort.”