May the thinnest (prices) win?
4/21/202620 min
In today's episode of The Daily Brief, we cover two major stories shaping the Indian economy and global markets:
00:04 Intro
00:28 India enters the GLP-1 race
10:10 Do stronger patents boost exports?
18:21 Tidbits
We also send out a crisp and short daily newsletter for The Daily Brief. Put your email here and we'll make you smart every day: https://thedailybriefing.substack.com/
Note: This content is for informational purposes only. None of the stocks, brands, or products mentioned are recommendations or endorsements.
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAkshara· Host0:00
[upbeat music] In today's episode, we'll break down two important stories. First, we'll talk about the rough tides of the GLP-1 market, and then we'll talk about how stronger patents impact Indian exporters. Welcome back to The Daily Brief by Zerodha, where we cut through the noise to help you understand what's actually happening in the most important stories from business and markets. I'm your host Akshara, and today is Tuesday, 21st April. Coming to the first story. So at markets, we've spoken about the ticking time bomb of the semaglutide patent expiring plenty of times in the past year. Now that the bomb has gone off, so has the potentiality of a war, a price war. A few weeks ago, Novo Nordisk cut the price of its blockbuster drugs in India by up to 48%. Ozempic, which had been selling for between rupees 8,800 and rupees 11,175 a month, suddenly costs a fraction of that. Some versions of the same molecule are now available in India for rupees 1,290 a month. A 90% price collapse in a matter of weeks. But Novo Nordisk didn't decide to be generous, they were forced to. Its key Indian patent on semaglutide, the molecule behind Ozempic and Wegovy, expired on March 20th, and Indian pharma firms who had been counting down to this date for years flooded the market. Dr. Reddy's launched on day one, followed by Mankind, Zydus, Natco, and Glenmark. India has followed this playbook for varieties