metaboliqWhat changed in March 2026
Once the patent expired, Zydus, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Glenmark, Alkem and others launched semaglutide under their own brand names within two days.
Reported launch prices: Zydus's Semaglyn at about Rs 2,200 a month, Sun Pharma's Noveltreat at about Rs 750 to Rs 2,000 a week depending on strength, and Dr Reddy's Obeda at about Rs 4,200 a month. These are the press's figures at launch; they change, and a pharmacist quotes the current MRP.
Is a generic the same as Ozempic or Wegovy?
The molecule is the same semaglutide. What differs is the company, the pen, the strengths on offer, and each product's approved use, which the regulator has asked states to hold every seller to.
Emcure's Poviztra is different again: it is Novo Nordisk's own semaglutide 2.4 mg, sold under licence.
Getting it safely
Only from a licensed pharmacy, against a prescription, and kept cold as the label says. A pen sold through a marketplace or a social media message can be fake or spoiled.
Sources: [5]
Who decides, and how it is started
It is prescription-only in India, and a doctor decides whether it fits you after reading your history, your blood tests and anything else you take.
It is started at a low strength and stepped up every four weeks or so, because stepping up slowly is what keeps the stomach side effects manageable.
Sold outside an authorised pharmacy, a pen can be fake, wrongly stored or the wrong strength; the regulator has asked states to keep these products to authorised channels and their approved uses.
Sources: [5]
Why muscle matters
Body weight falls as fat and as lean tissue together. In the STEP 1 body-composition substudy, roughly 40% of the total lost was lean mass.
Muscle is what keeps blood sugar handled well, keeps you strong as you age and keeps your daily energy use up. So the plan around any treatment protects it: protein at every meal, strength training two or three times a week, and body composition measured rather than the scale alone.
Sources: [7]
What happens when it is stopped
These work while they are taken. One year after semaglutide was stopped in the STEP 1 extension, people had regained about two-thirds of what they had lost; in SURMOUNT-4, people switched from tirzepatide to placebo regained about 14% of body weight.
That is why the habits built alongside treatment, and a plan for maintenance, matter as much as the treatment itself.
Side effects
Common, and usually easing with time
- Nausea, most often in the first weeks and after each step up.
- Diarrhoea or constipation.
- Vomiting, indigestion, burping and bloating.
- Feeling full early, and less appetite.
- Tiredness, and headache.
Serious, and rare
- Pancreatitis: severe, lasting pain in the upper abdomen that may spread to the back, with or without vomiting.
- Gallbladder problems, including gallstones, which are more likely when body weight falls quickly.
- Dehydration from vomiting or diarrhoea, which can strain the kidneys.
- Low blood sugar, mainly when it is combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea.
- Allergic reactions, rare but serious.
- A history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2 in you or your family is a reason it is not used.
- NAION, a sudden painless loss of vision in one eye, listed as a very rare side effect of semaglutide.
Stop and get medical help at once for severe abdominal pain, repeated vomiting, signs of an allergic reaction, or sudden changes in vision. Tell the doctor about pregnancy plans first: these are not used in pregnancy.