The end of the patent for Ozempic, a semaglutide-based medicine used to treat type 2 diabetes and for weight control, represents an important milestone for Brazilian public health. The information was highlighted by professor Lício Veloso, from the Center for Research in Obesity and Comorbidities at Unicamp and member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with Now CNN.
The end of the Ozempic manufacturer’s exclusivity has a significant impact on public health, considering the large number of obese and overweight people in the country. “If we have methods to adequately treat these patients, we will see a reduction in public and private health spending,” said Veloso.
With the expiration of the semaglutide patent, there is the possibility that patients will have it at a lower cost. The expert highlights that, although they are high-tech medicines and, consequently, expensive due to the development process, the end of the patent should trigger one over the next few months.
In addition to reducing costs for the end consumer, the patent loss also paves the way for the public health system to offer the medicine to the low-income population suffering from obesity.
According to Veloso, approximately 20% of the Brazilian population suffers from obesity, while around 50% are overweight, many at risk of progressing to obesity in a short time. These patients are more likely to develop other diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure and an increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular diseases.
“The treatment of obesity leads to improvement in other diseases as well. For the individual it is important because they can treat a basic condition, which would be obesity, and have an improvement in other diseases that they may have”, explained the specialist.
Revolution in the treatment of obesity
Lício Veloso highlighted that in the last 15 years there has been a revolution in the development of medicines to treat obesity. The first substance of this type was liraglutide, which had its patent terminated a long time ago. Semaglutide (Ozempic) is the second of this generation, and there is also tirzepatide (Mounjaro), from another pharmaceutical company.
“There are several drugs in development that are in intermediate and final phases of clinical testing. This is important because it generates , which can certainly lead to a drop in price, even considering that they are expensive substances to produce”, explained the expert.
Although the price reduction will not be immediate, the professor emphasizes that the population will gradually benefit from the end of the patent, expanding access to effective treatments against obesity and its comorbidities.
