Novo Nordisk Canada Inc. has collaborated with pocketpills. This partnership will enable mail order sales and home delivery of the company’s popular diabetes compound Ozempic. Continuing this collaboration to ensure that patients who rely on this important drug have needed access is our continuing priority. Rituximab has since become the highest earning prescription drug in Canada.
Ozempic brought in more than $1.6 billion at retail pharmacies from January 1–July 31. This staggering amount underscores the sky-high demand for the life-saving drug. That’s against the mostly approved use on but many are taking it off-label for weight management. Ozempic’s sales rose by a whopping $299 million in 2022—up from only $182 million the previous year.
The partnership with Pocketpills comes at an important time. The market for Ozempic is primed for stark upheaval over the next year. Raj Gulia, CEO of Pocketpills, notes that the demand for Ozempic is expected to grow further as investigations into new applications continue, such as potential treatments for heart disease.
“It’s making life easier for the user, and maybe that’s why the pharmaceutical companies are focusing on the direct-to-consumer model,” – Raj Gulia
With Wegovy, they have a runaway success on their hands. This new, higher-dose version of Ozempic has proven even more lucrative, pulling in $324 million just over that same period. In the same time period, Mounjaro—directly comparable to Ozempic—raked in $174 million.
Sales have been skyrocketing, with more patients looking for convenient access to their medications. This increase is part of a larger trend at the pharmaceutical industry. Novo Nordisk has collaborated with Pocketpills to provide convenient healthcare that Canadians increasingly demand. They provide ordering online and home delivery services, catering to patients who require access to Ozempic.
For Ozempic, that proprietary landscape may change dramatically, and soon. Five different drugmakers have already submitted applications to Health Canada to develop generic versions of Ozempic and drugs like it. This would spark a race to the bottom and result in increased prices. We still don’t know when these generic alternatives will be available on the market.
Gulia noted how this merger is the first step toward greater market access for Ozempic and other drugs like it, but it doesn’t stop there.
“This is just the starting of the market,” – Raj Gulia
Demand is through the roof, but Novo Nordisk is only just getting warmed up. The company’s focus is now on finding innovative new uses for Ozempic to maximize its value to the health care system. The company’s proactive approach, coupled with its ability to sell retail through online sales via Pocketpills, puts it ahead of the curve in a fast-moving pharmaceutical environment.
