By Rishika Sadam
July 9 (Reuters) – Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched its weekly basal insulin injection, Awiqli, in India on Thursday, aiming to compete with daily-dose options on the market.
Awiqli, which Novo describes as the world’s first once-weekly basal, or background long-acting, insulin approved for clinical use, is prescribed for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes in adults, the company said. It is designed to reduce the number of injections from 365 per year to 52, Novo said.
A once-weekly dose of 70 insulin units of Awiqli is priced at 261 rupees ($2.74), Novo Nordisk India Managing Director Vikrant Shrotriya told reporters at the launch in New Delhi. It will come in two variants: a 1 ml (700-unit) pen priced at 2,611 rupees, and a 3 ml (2,100-unit) pen priced at 7,833 rupees.
That compares to 345 to 453 rupees for 70 units of daily-dose basal insulin products available in the market, he said. Awiqli will be rolled out in the Indian market next week.
More than 101 million people in India are living with diabetes, while another 136 million have prediabetes, Novo said in a statement.
Insulin initiation in India is delayed by an average of 7-9 years, partly due to fear of injections, anticipated pain, and cost concerns, it said.
India has about 6 million people on insulin therapy, a number that Novo Nordisk expects to rise to 9 million in the near future, Shrotriya said, adding that this would benefit the company commercially.
India’s insulin market is projected to grow from $660.5 million in 2025 to $916.4 million by 2034, according to IMARC, driven by rising diabetes prevalence linked to sedentary lifestyles, poor diets, and genetic predisposition.
Awiqli, known generically as insulin icodec, received U.S. approval earlier this year and has also been approved in the European Union and several other countries, the company said. India is the seventh country where the drug has been launched.
In India, the drug is expected to compete with other basal insulin brands such as Sanofi’s Lantus, as well as lower-cost insulin glargine products marketed by domestic drugmakers such as Biocon, Eris Lifesciences and Lupin.
Separately, Novo is competing with Eli Lilly and a growing number of Indian generic drugmakers in the country’s expanding obesity treatment market.
($1 = 95.4125 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Rishika Sadam; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
