Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has approved the first semaglutide slimming pen produced in the country. It will be manufactured by the pharmaceutical company EMS and the medication will be called Ozivy.
The company expects to sell 1.2 million units of the product in the first year, with revenue exceeding R$ 500 million. Now, with the approval, the Sanchez family's company intends to have the pen in pharmacies within 30 days.
The products, which will be manufactured at the Hortolândia plant in the interior of São Paulo state, will be distributed in dosages of 0.25 mg (1 pen); 0.5 mg (1 pen), and 1 mg, with one and two pens. The 1 mg version currently represents 60% of the market.
"A product so eagerly awaited by the medical community and patients will now have a treatment option produced by a Brazilian company," says Marcus Sanchez, vice president of EMS, in an interview with NeoFeed .
The first sale will be around 350,000 units, which will uniformly supply pharmacies across the country, including major chains and smaller businesses. "Between the end of June and the beginning of July, we will already have them on pharmacy counters. And distribution will be continuous," says Sanchez.
EMS has already invested R$ 1.2 billion in its slimming pen production platform. And, by the end of the year, the company will assess the need for further investments in the Hortolândia factory.
"Our factory is ready and sized for the next two years. Now, we will see if we need to make new investments soon. But at least until the end of 2027 we have production capacity," says Sanchez.
“Semaglutide is a highly sought-after product, with a very large pent-up demand. And we are here to offer this as a first option for patients,” says Sanchez.
The product's price is not yet defined, but NeoFeed had already revealed that the expectation was that the box would cost around R$ 500, a value well below that of Ozempic , currently on the market for around R$ 1,000.
“We’re not going to offer a discount at the beginning and then raise the price. The initial price will already be much more accessible. What we’re going to do is, initially, provide even better conditions so that people can access our pen, with benefits for adhering to the treatment,” explains Sanchez.
At full price, the trend is for the price to be at least 30% lower than the reference product, and even cheaper than the discount plan recently launched by Eurofarma, responsible for the distribution and marketing of Provitza, a cheaper version of Ozempic, which is also produced by Novo Nordisk .
Ozivy is the slimming pen from EMS, which has semaglutide as its active ingredient .
The company plans to be more aggressive regarding Novo Nordisk's margin for this type of product in the Brazilian pharmaceutical retail market.
"We're going to leave more margin than Novo Nordisk does. And with new products coming to market, the trend is to unlock even more margin on prescription drugs," he explains.
The vice president of EMS states that, now with the increase in product offerings due to growing demand, the concern about smuggling and illegal trade of products in Brazil remains even greater.
"Competition is very healthy, as long as it's legal. Our perception is that the informal market is five times larger than the legalized one. And that's very worrying," says Sanchez.
The projected market for weight-loss pens in Brazil in 2026 is R$ 15.6 billion, considering all types of pens available on the market, including semaglutide, liraglutide, and tirrizepatide. This represents significant growth compared to last year, which generated R$ 10 billion.
The company has also filed a registration application for tirrizepatide in the United States market. In Brazil, the patent for the active ingredient in the drug Mounjaro , from Eli Lilly, expires in 2032.
The patent for semaglutide in Brazil, held by the Danish company Novo Nordisk, with the products Ozempic and Wegovy, expired in March of this year. The company attempted to extend the exclusivity period in court, in its view, to compensate for the lost time, but the Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruled that the 20-year ownership period had been fulfilled.
EMS was also the first to launch the national version of liraglutide, in August of last year, with Olire and Lirux. The patent for the reference drug, also from Novo Nordisk, expired in August 2024.
