The iPhone effect in healthcare: How Mounjaro is rewriting the economics of India’s pharma market

Like eager buyers queuing for the latest iPhone, urban Indians are chasing next-generation weight-loss injections regardless of price. Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro has dethroned long-time bestseller Augmentin, sparking an unprecedented market boom for GLP-1 drugs.

Mumbai: For years, GlaxoSmithKline’s Augmentin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, held a place at the top of India’s pharmaceutical sales charts. Its reign reflected the economics of a market built on scale, volume and affordable medicines. That pecking order has now been overturned by GLP-1 drugs, sought after for weight-loss and diabetes treatment. Eli Lilly’s patented Mounjaro has emerged as the country’s top-selling drug by sales.

The rise of Mounjaro points to a shift in a market long dominated by generics: Indian patients are increasingly willing to pay a premium for newer therapies—even for generics that are priced at a premium.

The entry of generic semaglutide after Novo Nordisk’s patent expired in March 2026 has unleashed a surge in volumes, even though the treatment costs between ₹1,850 and ₹8,000 a month—hardly inexpensive by the standards of the Indian pharma market.

The trends point to a market in which affordability is still crucial, but no longer the sole determinant of choice. Brand reputation, confidence in the medicine, delivery systems and the promise of better outcomes are beginning to matter more.

For Indian drugmakers who built their businesses on making medicines affordable at scale, the implications are significant. The opportunity may lie not merely in selling more medicines at lower prices, but in building brands and treatment experiences that patients and doctors are willing to pay for. The GLP-1 drugs market could be an early indication of that transition.

Truth in numbers

The numbers underline the speed at which the category has taken off. Mounjaro, launched in India in March 2025, recorded sales of ₹923 crore in 2025-26, according to data from Pharmarack, an e-commerce market audit company. Sales in the last 12 months to September 2026 stood at about ₹1,736 crore. The total GLP-1 market was pegged at ₹2,596 crore over the same period, with injectable products accounting for about 86% of the value.

GLP-1 medications are often administered via subcutaneous injection into the fatty tissue of the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm but pill-based solutions exist as well.

The entry of generic semaglutide has added another dimension to the market. Following the expiry of Novo Nordisk’s patent in March, several Indian companies launched their versions of the drug. Monthly semaglutide sales rose from ₹48 crore in February 2026 to ₹113 crore in September. In volume terms, sales shot up nearly sixteen times, from about 114,000 units to 1,876,000 units, with generics accounting for nearly 74% of the units sold.

Vishal Manchanda, a pharma analyst from the Systematix Group, a financial services entity, estimates that the semaglutide market is now running at an annualised rate of about ₹900 crore, while the overall GLP-1 market could be close to ₹3,000 crore. And these are early days. “Compared to the penetration in the US, we haven't even scratched the surface yet in India,” he says.

A Gallup national survey in the US put the use of GLP-1 drugs for diabetes at 11% of the adult population and that for weight loss at 15%.

The potential customer base is substantial. An ICMR-INDIAB study estimates that 254 million people in India are living with obesity and 101 million with diabetes. Not all of them are candidates for GLP-1 treatment, and the drugs are not intended to replace diet, exercise or medical supervision. But the scale of the underlying conditions gives pharmaceutical companies a large market to address as awareness, diagnosis and access improve.

The category has also benefited from a change in how obesity is discussed. Long treated largely as a lifestyle issue, it is increasingly being recognised as a chronic disease requiring sustained management. This has created room for medicines that were initially associated with diabetes treatment to become part of a wider conversation around metabolic health.

Brand matters

While generics lower the barrier to entry, brand perception still heavily dictates patient choices. In a category where titration takes months and individual responses vary, brand reputation often acts as a proxy for efficacy.

Aakanksha Chauhan, a 37-year-old engineer based between Mumbai and the UK, began using Ozempic in early 2025 after an endocrinologist recommended it as she prepared for an egg-freezing procedure. She says she lost 40-45 kg over six months. After stopping treatment, she regained about 10 kg. Her doctor later recommended Wegovy and subsequently Mounjaro, in the context of insulin resistance.

Chauhan also runs a GLP-1 coaching community and a WhatsApp group, where she has observed how strongly brand names can shape patients’ views of the treatment. A member might report losing only 300 grams in a week on a generic medicine and ask what to do. Another user may respond by recommending Mounjaro instead, on the assumption that it is better.

“They don’t realise that Mounjaro would also lead to similar weight loss…people think it is a superior drug as that is how it has been sold to the market,” she says.

The exchange is not evidence that one brand is clinically superior to another. Weight loss and response to treatment vary between patients, and the choice of medicine and dose needs to be guided by a doctor. But these conversations illustrate how a brand can acquire a value beyond its active ingredient. In a market where patients are spending a significant part of their monthly income on treatment, perceptions of quality and effectiveness can carry considerable weight.

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A 40-year-old Delhi resident, who didn’t want to be identified, offers another perspective. He tried Sun Pharmaceutical’s Noveltreat and Zydus’ Semaglyn over four months, moving between doses, but did not experience the appetite suppression he had expected. Mounjaro was recommended to him, but he has been reluctant to switch because of its cost.

“It’s still an ongoing process, and I haven’t really figured out my ideal dose that can balance hunger suppression with side effects,” he says.

He chose the brands himself, weighing reputation against price. “The endocrinologist was trying to enforce another generic brand but I went with a mix of reputed and value for money,” he adds.

The experience reflects the balancing act facing patients. A lower price can make treatment accessible, but it does not necessarily remove the need to find a brand and delivery system that the patient and doctor are comfortable with. Some users prefer multi-use pens because they can lower the cost of treatment over time. Others prefer single-use pens for convenience or privacy, particularly if they do not want to store a multi-dose device at home.

There are also reports of patients seeking retatrutide, Eli Lilly’s next-generation GLP-1 drug which is under phase 3 trials in the US but is reported as widely available in the grey markets.

Sambit Patnaik, a Mumbai-based consulting colorectal surgeon, says that his patients are aware of retatrutide and are sourcing it at ₹38,000 for a month’s supply. “Expectations are high from well-heeled patients who are now willing to go to any length for quick results,” he quips.

One industry observer likens it to the desire to own the latest model of an iPhone. The analogy is useful, but it also captures the risk. Medicines are not consumer gadgets, and brand preference cannot substitute for clinical evidence or medical advice. Yet, the premium that patients are willing to pay for a product they perceive as better is a commercial reality that drugmakers cannot ignore.

Beyond the starter dose

For Indian drugmakers, GLP-1 drugs demand a departure from the traditional playbook. These are long-term injectables requiring patient familiarity with delivery devices, titration schedules, and side-effect management.

Diabetologist Rajiv Kovil cautions that companies have crowded the market with too many brands and devices. “You have 50 brands which have come out and you have almost eight to nine different kinds of devices,” he says.

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The proliferation has created confusion among doctors as well as patients. Kovil argues that companies should have taken more feedback from physicians experienced in injectable therapies before launching multiple devices. If doctors are not comfortable with the devices, patients are unlikely to be either. Some companies, he says, have since begun addressing the problem and rebuilding physician confidence by demonstrating the reliability of their delivery systems.

The bigger challenge is to move beyond the price competition. “In GLP-1, it's always about the durability of the prescription…retaining patients over a year is going to be the first kind of a hurdle,” he says.

He believes the market could eventually resemble the statin category, where lower prices and widespread availability helped build a large base of patients.

Manchanda sees a similar shift in how companies will have to compete. “Everybody wants to get the patient directly. So there is a bit of a direct-to-consumer (D2C) shift in this category that we can see,” he says.

Direct engagement, however, will not be enough. For generics, he expects word of mouth and doctors’ experience with individual products to become increasingly important.

Alkem Laboratories is tailoring its approach to this dynamic. Entering the semaglutide market in March 2026 with three brands—Semasize, Obesema, and Hepaglide—the company introduced both pre-filled disposable pens and reusable devices to manage recurring costs. Sandeep Singh, managing director of Alkem, notes that improving access requires addressing ease of administration alongside affordability. To prevent dropouts, Alkem is pairing its products with support groups guiding patients on diet, exercise, and side-effect management.

Receptive India

The rapid uptake of GLP-1 drugs is also changing the way multinational pharmaceutical companies view India. For years, the country was often a market where new patented medicines arrived well after their global launches, in part because of concerns over affordability and commercial viability. That gap has narrowed in recent years.

“The time lines of launches of patented drugs by multinationals post the global launches has shortened from over 7-8 years to 2-3 years,” says Anil Matai, director general of the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), which represents multinational pharmaceutical companies in India. “For MNCs, the Indian market is at an inflexion point as companies are now confident of bringing their blockbusters to India sooner. The success story of GLP-1 drugs greatly reinforces their confidence.”

Lilly has sought to expand its reach through a commercial arrangement with Cipla for Yurpeak, its second brand of tirzepatide. The partnership draws on Cipla's distribution infrastructure to extend access to more patients. Lilly says its approach is not limited to bringing a medicine to market, but also includes building awareness of obesity as a chronic disease and encouraging evidence-based care.

Novo Nordisk, meanwhile, has emphasised physician confidence, affordability and dependable access. The company points to its manufacturing expertise, clinical evidence and integrated medicine-and-pen delivery system as factors underpinning confidence in its products. Its managing director in India, Vikrant Shrotriya, has said that “changing an entrenched perception takes sustained effort”. The comment refers to the challenge of changing how obesity is understood, but it also captures the broader task of building trust in a relatively new category of treatment.

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The interest in India is not restricted to GLP-1 drugs. Roche, for instance, has been stepping up its clinical-trial activity and broader presence in the country, with plans for more than 20 product launches or ‘indication extensions’ over the next three to five years across oncology, haematology, ophthalmology, neurology and infectious diseases.

Just like GLP-1 drugs were first used for diabetes and then prescribed for weight loss, a single cancer drug can be used for several cancer types but each of those use cases has to be tested and launched separately—these are called indication extensions.

In October 2025, Roche announced an investment of at least CHF (Swiss franc) 1.5 billion in India over five years, including research and development.

The central lesson

The GLP-1 market is still young, and questions remain over long-term patient adherence and how price wars will shape generic margins. But the central lesson is already clear.

For Indian drugmakers, the lesson is not to abandon low-cost manufacturing, but to recognize that affordability is only one piece of the puzzle. The rise of Mounjaro alongside generic semaglutide shows that Indian healthcare is entering a more mature phase: one where scale and low cost remain foundational, but patient trust, delivery devices, and support systems determine lasting success.

Key Takeaways

• The total value of India’s GLP-1 drug market in the 12-month period ending September 2026, driven by injectable products.
• Sales volume of generic semaglutide in September 2026, up nearly 16 times from February this year.
• People living with obesity in India, according to an ICMR-INDIAB study. 101 million have diabetes in the county.

About the Authors

T. Surendar

T. Surendar is a senior journalist at Mint with nearly three decades of experience covering business, markets, and corporate India. Since beginning his career in 1996, he has built a reputation for insight-driven reporting on corporate strategy, with a particular focus on India’s large, family-owned businesses and their evolution.<br><br>At Mint, he writes on corporate strategy, market trends, and regulatory developments, bringing depth and clarity to complex business stories. Over the years, he has worked with leading publications including India Today and Businessworld, and was part of the founding editorial teams of Forbes India and Fortune India. Most recently, he served as managing editor at The Morning Context, where he led long-form and investigative journalism.<br><br>Earlier in his career, Surendar served as national business features editor at The Times of India, India’s largest-circulated English daily, where he broke several important stories, including the one on the Apollo Hospitals chain losing out on their Sri Lankan venture and the guar gum trading scam.<br><br>Prior to his journalism career, Surendar worked across the pharmaceutical, industrial automation, and diamond jewellery sectors, and also as an equity analyst—experience that informs his nuanced understanding of corporate strategy and markets.<br><br>Surendar is known for breaking trend-defining stories and producing authoritative explainers on key corporate developments, including succession planning at Reliance Industries. He has interviewed some of India’s most influential business leaders, including Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Anand Mahindra, and Dilip Shanghvi.<br><br>A Chevening Scholar in Journalism, he completed a specialised programme at the University of Westminster, and has also undergone a Newsroom Leadership Program conducted by Columbia University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and has taught journalism courses at the University of Mumbai.<br><br>He has moderated and conducted high-profile discussions at forums such as Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women event. His work is defined by rigour, independence, and a commitment to helping readers understand the strategic forces shaping corporate India.

Jessica Jani

Jessica has been tracking the pharmaceutical, life sciences and healthcare sector for Mint since November 2024. Based in the country's financial capital, she reports on everything to do with health and medicines. This includes corporate action, patent wars, deals, startup activity and consumer trends. She also keeps a keen eye on the ever-evolving world wellness and preventive health, which moves faster than regulation can keep up. She has a deep interest in what the future of health looks like and how science, innovation, policy and company decisions inform and impact the health of citizens. She has been a reporter for five years, working with publications like The Core and News18 prior to this, covering various sectors like automobiles, real estate, energy, sustainability and urban mobility. Jessica has a bachelor’s degree in English from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai and a postgraduate diploma in media from Sophia’s College, Mumbai. Her work is driven by a desire to decode how macro decisions and events alter and shape the lives of ordinary people. Drop her a mail or a message to discuss business scoops, exciting new medicines and inventions, or your latest wellness routine.