Denmark’s Novo Nordisk’s Vikrant Shrotriya, India managing director and corporate vice-president said that the company is working toward launching its once-a-week insulin, Icodec, in India by mid-2025.
Introducing anti-obesity drugs and medicines for diabetes, which induce weight loss, such as Wegovy and Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is also on the anvil, he added.
The firm, which recently completed 100 years of its business, is also working on areas such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, a type of liver inflammation), Alzheimer’s and cardio-vascular diseases, apart from some of the newer therapy areas.
“The good part is that, for virtually all these products, we have got trial centers in India. So it’s not that India is just a center where we launch the product, but is also part of all these trials,” he said.
Commending “India’s appetite for embracing innovation“, Shrotriya noted, “Normally people think that India is a pharmacy of the world and all generics and getting the me-too drug, but I am hugely impressed with [India’s] awareness level, the competencies of doctors, and the quest to understand newer molecules and treatment algorithms.”
