Dr Reddy's Gearing Up For Canada Semaglutide Launch, To Expand India Portfolio

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Mumbai: Dr Reddy's Laboratories, which received regulatory approval for generic semaglutide in Canada on 29 April, is gearing up to launch the drug in the next few days, its top leadership told reporters in a press briefing.

The drugmaker, which also launched a generic semaglutide injection in India in March under the brand name 'Obeda', is launching oral tablets of the popular weight-loss drug in the country in the next few days, as well as adding more brands to its portfolio, management said.

“It's all about logistics. In the next [few] days, there will be semaglutide in the Canadian market,” chief executive officer Erez Israeli told reporters on Tuesday. The Hyderabad-headquartered drugmaker was the first to receive approval from the Canadian regulator, Health Canada, for a generic version of semaglutide. Shortly after, complex generics maker Orbicular Pharmaceutical Technologies Pvt. Ltd, too, announced that it had received approval in Canada.

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Canada's patent for semaglutide, the blockbuster drug used for type 2 diabetes and weight loss, expired in January 2026.

The price would initially be higher, given there are only two generic players currently, and would erode over time, said Israeli, declining to share specifics.

The company is also launching oral semaglutide tablets in India in the next few days, having received approval in April. The drugmaker has approval to roll out the drug for type-2 diabetes, but plans to expand to other indications in the future.“We also have a strategy to specifically have products which are targeting indications beyond diabetes, and that's the idea to have two additional brands doing that,” M.V. Ramana, chief executive officer (CEO), Global Generics, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, said, adding that generic semaglutide was picking up significantly in the Indian market.

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Dr Reddy's is also in the process of securing regulatory approvals for other markets where the drug is losing patent exclusivity, and plans to launch in over 80 countries in the near term.

“Semaglutide is actually a vehicle for us to enter the GLP-1 space structurally and strategically,” said Deepak Sapra, CEO, API and Services, Dr Reddy's Laboratories.

Financial performance

Dr Reddy's posted its results for the fourth quarter and full year of FY26 on Tuesday, missing estimates as the loss of exclusivity for blood cancer drug Lenalidomide in the US market, as well as impairments from its CAR-T assets and discontinued licensed product Eftilagimod Alfa, weighed it down.

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Its net profit for Q4FY26 fell 86.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) to ₹220.1 crore, while revenue dropped 11.6% y-o-y to ₹7,516.2 crore.

Ebitda declined 60% y-o-y to ₹980 crore for the March quarter. For the full financial year 2026, Dr Reddy's profit fell 24.2% YoY to ₹4,285 crore, while revenue climbed 3.2% y-o-y to ₹33,593.3 crore.

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