Dr Reddy's rolls out new generic Ozempic brands to ease Obeda supply hit

Novo Nordisk A/S

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Adds comments from company in paragraphs 5, 6
Distributors say Dr Reddy's supplying Obeda Pro, Obeda Plus
Obeda injectable recall in July hampered sales in India
Dr Reddy's says Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus will continue in market
Co says new brands are not evidence of Obeda being replaced
By Rishika Sadam
HYDERABAD, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Dr Reddy's Laboratories REDY.NS has expanded its portfolio of generic versions of Ozempic with two new brands to fill a supply-chain hit to its original Obeda injections, product photographs and marketing materials reviewed by Reuters show.
The shift, first reported here by Reuters, follows supply disruptions that hit sales of Dr Reddy's Obeda injection in India's fast-growing market for semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy.
Shares in Dr Reddy's fell by as much as 2% after the Reuters report, before paring some losses to settle 1.4% lower.
Dr Reddy's launched Obeda, a generic version of Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO diabetes drug, in India in March and later in Canada after semaglutide lost patent protection, setting off a race among domestic drugmakers to launch lower-cost versions.
The drugmaker said at a media briefing on Friday that after encountering manufacturing issues with Obeda in July, it had shifted production to a partner's facility to maintain supplies.
Dr Reddy's said that its Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus would remain available in the market and could be used for diabetes treatment and weight management.
Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus are manufactured by a different firm than the Obeda injectable, supplies of which were halted after Dr Reddy's found an impurity in the active ingredient.
Several distributors told Reuters that Dr Reddy's is likely to discontinue Obeda and will focus on Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus.
"The company said there were some technical issues with Obeda injectable, and they recalled stocks from us. They said they would instead supply Obeda Pro," a drug distributor said.
 "When we started off on semaglutide, we basically had two sources for the product. One was our own product and one through the partner product," M.V. Ramana, chief executive of Global Generics, said on Friday.
 Having multiple semaglutide brands should not be interpreted as evidence of one replacing another, the company told Reuters earlier.
A company notice reviewed by Reuters showed Dr Reddy's recalled Obeda injections in July "for technical evaluation". An oral version of the drug was not recalled.
The company had also recalled batches of generic semaglutide in Canada in August because of the impurity issue. It will relaunch the drug in Canada this quarter and is targeting launches in Latin America and Africa in coming months.
Research firm Pharmarack estimated in March that the domestic market for semaglutide drugs will grow to 80 billion rupees ($844 million) by 2030.
Dr Reddy's said in July that supplies of Obeda injections would be unavailable until November and analysts warned it risked losing market share if supplies were not restored soon.
On Friday, Dr Reddy's said it was on track to resolve the impurity issue and relaunch next month. 
Packaging materials showed Obeda was manufactured by contract manufacturer OneSource Specialty Pharma ONEO.NS. 
Obeda Pro and Obeda Plus, which began appearing in the market in late July according to supply invoices reviewed by Reuters, are manufactured by Hetero Labs.
Both are available in different dose strengths, just like Ozempic and Wegovy.
Hetero Labs and OneSource Specialty Pharma did not respond to requests for comment.
Dr Reddy's had sold about 442,000 units of generic semaglutide in India through September, research firm Pharmarack said. By comparison, India's largest drugmaker Sun Pharma SUN.NS sold 151,000 semaglutide units.
($1 = 94.7875 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam; Editing by Kevin Buckland and Alexander Smith)
((Rishika.Sadam@thomsonreuters.com;))