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- China adds semaglutide, a GLP-1 diabetes drug, to its essential medicine list.
- This inclusion ensures availability in rural hospitals, paving the way for generics.
- Semaglutide joins liraglutide as the second GLP-1 drug on the list Sept. 1.
SHANGHAI — China will add a second GLP-1 drug, used to treat diabetes, to a list of essential drugs all public hospitals are required to prioritize having in their formulary, a government statement said on Thursday.
China, the world's second-biggest pharmaceutical market, has the highest number of adults with diabetes in the world, according to estimates from the International Diabetes Federation.
Justin Wang, a partner at global strategy consultancy L.E.K. Consulting in Shanghai, told Reuters the essential listing would mean the drug, semaglutide, should be available even in remote rural hospitals.
So far only the Ozempic brand version has approval, but Wang said the inclusion of semaglutide in the National Essential Drug List would also "pave the way for generics to be broadly listed" once they are approved in China.
"We can expect semaglutide and other newly added NEDL drugs to become much more accessible across the country," he said, adding that it was the second GLP-1 to be listed after liraglutide, an older medication.
The injectable semaglutide will be included on China's national essential drug list, effective from September 1, under the insulin and blood glucose-lowering medication category, Thursday's government statement said.
It did not mention obesity, which can also be treated by some GLP-1 drugs.
Sales of Ozempic GLP-1 injector pens in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong – Novo Nordisk's largest market after the U.S. – slipped 7% to about $853 million in 2025.
Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it expected a significant increase in revenue for that drug in China due to the listing.
The patent on the active ingredient semaglutide expired in China in March, though the company has regulatory data protection until early next year.
