The Danish company Novo Nordisk is spending its last 48 hours as the patent holder in Brazil for Ozempic and Wegovy, slimming pens based on semaglutide that have changed the status of the pharmaceutical industry and retail in the country.
After legal disputes to try to extend the deadline (or restore the period, according to the company) due to delays in final registration by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), the patent for the active ingredient expires definitively on Friday, March 20.
Starting Saturday, in theory, any other company in the sector will be able to produce or license the drug from abroad and market it, once the registration is approved by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).
But the expectation is that the first registration of semaglutide in Brazil will come at the end of May. Last year, the agency began prioritizing analyses for the release of pens, giving preference to national manufacturers. And, at the moment, there are three applications with advanced progress in the documentation phase: from Ávita Care, EMS, and Megalabs.
What's at stake in this race against time is a market that, in 2025 alone, generated R$10 billion in sales of slimming pens in Brazilian pharmacies. The forecast is that it should reach R$15.6 billion in 2026. The expectation is that there will be a reduction of at least 30% in the price of Ozempic, currently sold for around R$1,000.
“Looking to the future, there is a great opportunity. This patent gap for GLP-1 could significantly reshape the pharmaceutical landscape in Brazil, reducing prices, expanding patient access, and creating opportunities for local and international pharmaceutical companies,” states a report from BTG Pactual, published on Monday, March 16th.
According to information obtained by NeoFeed from sources in the pharmaceutical market, the most advanced process at Anvisa, and which should be approved within 60 days, is that of the pharmaceutical company owned by the Sanchez family. EMS's advantage lies mainly in already having a ready-made platform at its factory in Hortolândia (SP) to begin production of the Ozempic generic.
Since August 2025, EMS has already been marketing the Elire and Lirux pens , which use liraglutide as their active ingredient. This molecule was previously exclusive to Novo Nordisk and its licensing expired in Brazil at the end of 2024. Semaglutide production will take place in the same industrial park.
In the case of Ávita Care, the company, which belongs to the Soluto group, took over the application that was already underway for Eurofarma. The dossier was transferred in September of last year to the new company, located in Vinhedo (SP), which became responsible for the regulatory follow-up.
The company will bring the pen from the pharmaceutical company Adalvo, headquartered in Malta, to Brazil. Semaglutide will be produced in Canada, but the plan is to produce it locally in the future.
“We are working to meet the final technical requirements for injectables in this category. Our expectation is to complete this process as quickly as possible and offer the population a safe product,” says Gisele Pimenta, CEO of Ávita Care, to NeoFeed .
Eurofarma claims it withdrew from this dispute after signing a distribution agreement with Novo Nordisk for two other semaglutide-based medications, Poviztra and Extensior, launched in October 2025, as an attempt to expand its market. These two brands will also cease to be exclusive, with the expiration of the semaglutide patent.
With this, Eurofarma understands that it is already in the market for slimming pens, even though it is not a manufacturer. "The company is responsible for the distribution, marketing, and promotion of two brands of injectable biological semaglutide, produced by Novo Nordisk," the company states.
Regarding registration, Eurofarma stated in a note that, due to the transfer of documentation, it currently "does not have any medication in the process of obtaining registration."
Regarding Megalabs, market information indicates that the company, headquartered in Uruguay with a branch in Rio de Janeiro, is expected to enter the semaglutide market through a licensing agreement with a foreign manufacturer, granting them the rights to sell the pen in Brazil.
The point of concern would be the distribution network for this product. Last year, the company partnered with Bayer to market contraceptive and cardiology medications manufactured by the German company.
Plan for 1 million pens
NeoFeed has learned that, given the imminent approval of the registration, EMS has already structured a plan involving the production of approximately 1 million semaglutide pens between July and December of this year.
And it is preparing to launch the drug at a price expected to be between R$500 and R$600, with the same presentations as Ozempic. This will mean a drop of almost 50% in the current price of the Novo Nordisk product.
The strategy initially involves increasing volume, even if this means an initial reduction in margin. The expectation is that, with the Ozempic-similar product alone, EMS will reach R$ 500 million in sales within 12 months.
With the initial approvals from Anvisa, the expectation is that, in the following semester, the agency's technicians will analyze the registrations of at least four more pharmaceutical companies.
The companies expected to be included in the next round are Brainfarma and Cosmed (controlled by Hypera Pharma), the Indian company Sun Pharma, and Laboratório Cristália . Applications from Aché, Althaia, Libbs, Aspen, and Farma Vision are expected to be submitted in a third phase.
In addition to the industry, retail chains are also preparing for the expansion of this market, with an increase in players offering slimming pens in various dosages and prices.
In its recently released fourth-quarter 2025 report, RD Saúde (formed by Raia and Drogasil) reported that products analogous to LPG-1, such as insulin pens, have registered significant growth in recent quarters.
"The introduction of new GLP-1 class drugs has become a significant driver of growth in prescription medications. In Q4 2025, the category reached double-digit market share in total retail sales, generating significant effects on gross margin due to the high average purchase value," the company states.
Financial market analysts also see growth potential from the entry of new obesity products into the retail market. "This patent gap for GLP-1 could significantly reshape the pharmaceutical landscape in Brazil, reducing prices, expanding patient access, and creating opportunities for local and international pharmaceutical companies," adds a report from BTG Pactual.
According to André Tenan, managing partner of health at A&M Performance, a unit of Alvarez & Marsal, the expiration of the semaglutide patent should directly influence not only the pharmaceutical market, but also other sectors impacted by changes in consumer behavior, such as gyms, food retail, and fashion.
Future incorporation into the SUS (Brazilian Public Health System)?
According to Tenan's assessment, the trend is that, with the drop in cost, the possible incorporation of the drug into the Unified Health System (SUS), which was denied last year by the National Commission for the Incorporation of Technologies in the SUS (Conitec) precisely because of its high cost, may now return to the agenda.
“Obesity is a pandemic in the world today. And this issue needs to be discussed. It can be done with restricted protocols, focusing on the segments that need it most, through public-private partnerships. But this debate is necessary,” says Tenan.
The claim at the time was that the budgetary impact would exceed R$ 8 billion per year. This amount represents almost double the budget of the Farmácia Popular program in 2025 (R$ 4.2 billion).
The Ministry of Health confirmed to NeoFeed that the future drop in the product's price could influence the return of the discussion in Brasília.
"With the entry of new generic drugs into the market and increased competition, prices should fall significantly. This is a determining factor in the analysis of the possible incorporation of a new technology into the SUS (Brazilian Public Health System)," the Ministry said in a statement.
Amid the approaching expiration of its patent, Novo Nordisk announced in early March a pilot project to offer Wegovy in public health centers. Among the locations defined are one unit in Rio de Janeiro and another in Rio Grande do Sul. Another location will be added to the plan soon.
Although the product remains very representative, Ozempic has lost ground in pharmacies since the arrival of Mounjaro, from the American company Eli Lilly, which entered the Brazilian market last year and has taken the lead in sales, despite being more expensive and costing around R$ 3,000.
According to Nelson Mussolini, president of the Pharmaceutical Products Industry Union (Sindusfarma), caution is needed when advancing these initiatives in the public sector, especially at the state and municipal levels, at a time when new, cheaper products are about to enter the market.
“Discussing a matter of this magnitude now, in an election year, shouldn't be pursued. We need to be careful, although discussing actions to combat obesity is very important in Brazil,” says Mussolini.
According to Novo Nordisk, the initiative with the Brazilian public health system (SUS) "aims to produce data and evidence on the impact of using injectable semaglutide in the treatment of obesity." There is no data on the number of patients who will participate in the partnership between the company and the public health network.
