Patent case against Novo Nordisk’s top-seller to proceed

A patent case against Novo Nordisk will be allowed to continue, according to a ruling by a board under the US patent office, reported the financial media MarketWire. The pharmaceutical manufacturer Viatris has challenged Novo Nordisk on three of the patents behind Novo’s best-selling GLP-1 molecule semaglutide. The popular weight loss drug Wegovy and the diabetes medicine Ozempic – both from Novo Nordisk – are based on semaglutide. Two points have been rejected, but on Wednesday it was assessed that the case concerning one of the points should continue, writes the media. The decision comes from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent Office. Viatris believes that Novo’s patents on semaglutide are based on the diabetes drug liraglutide and should therefore be set aside.
     Viatris has previously had eyes on semaglutide. Medwatch wrote in February that Viatris has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of a copy of the drug just one year after Novo Nordisk itself launched Wegovy. Novo Nordisk would not put up with this and therefore sued Viatris early this year for five different US patent infringements, Medwatch wrote. According to Novo Nordisk itself, the US patents on Wegovy run until 2032.
     Sales of both Wegovy and Ozempic have increased significantly in recent quarters. In the second quarter of this year, Novo Nordisk sold Wegovy for DKK 7.5 billion, which was more than six times as much as the same quarter a year earlier. However, Ozempic remains Novo’s best-selling drug. It is a diabetes drug, but like Wegovy it has a slimming effect. In the second quarter, sales of Ozempic ended at DKK 22.1 billion – almost 60 percent more than the same quarter in 2022. /ritzau/