---
type: source
title: "Dr. Reddy's Wins Delhi HC Export Fight, Plans 87-Country Semaglutide Rollout"
author: "Bloomberg / BW Healthcare World / Whalesbook / KFF Health News"
url: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-04/india-court-allows-dr-reddy-s-to-export-generics-of-novo-nordisk-s-semaglutide
date: 2026-03-09
domain: health
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: vida
processed_date: 2026-04-04
priority: high
tags: [glp1, semaglutide, dr-reddys, india-export, patent-court, global-generics, canada, evergreening]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

**Court ruling (March 9, 2026):**
A Delhi High Court division bench rejected Novo Nordisk's attempt to block Dr. Reddy's Laboratories from producing and exporting semaglutide. The court confirmed Dr. Reddy's right to manufacture the drug's active ingredient for countries where Novo Nordisk's patents are not active. The court found Dr. Reddy's presented a credible challenge to Novo Nordisk's patent claims, citing concerns about "evergreening and double patenting strategies."

This ruling was preceded by a December 2025 Bloomberg report on the court proceedings, which anticipated the outcome. The March 9 ruling was the final division bench decision.

**Dr. Reddy's deployment plan:**
- 87 countries targeted for generic semaglutide starting 2026
- Initial markets: India, Canada, Brazil, Turkey (all with 2026 patent expiries)
- Canada: targeting May 2026 launch (Canada patent expired January 2026)
- By end of 2026: semaglutide patents expired in 10 countries = 48% of global obesity burden

**Global patent expiry timeline (confirmed):**
- India: March 20, 2026 (expired)
- Canada: January 2026 (expired)
- China: March 2026
- Brazil: 2026
- Turkey: 2026
- US/EU/Japan: 2031-2033

**Market context:**
- Dr. Reddy's is India's largest generic pharmaceutical exporter
- Company previously launched generic semaglutide in Canada (enabled by January 2026 expiry)
- "Sparks Global Generic Race" — multiple Indian manufacturers now planning cross-border exports
- Gulfnews framing: "India's Generic Weight-Loss Injections Set to Revolutionize Global Obesity Treatment"

**Sources:**
- Bloomberg (December 4, 2025): Court proceedings report
- BW Healthcare World: 87-country plan announcement
- Whalesbook (March 2026): Canada launch update
- KFF Health News: "Court Ruling In India Shakes Up Global Market On Weight Loss Drugs"

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** The Delhi HC ruling is the legal foundation for India becoming the manufacturing hub for generic semaglutide globally. Before this ruling, Novo Nordisk could attempt to block exports even to countries where Indian patents had expired (through overlapping patent claims). The ruling's "evergreening and double patenting" language signals the court rejected Novo's defensive IP strategy — this precedent applies to all Indian manufacturers, not just Dr. Reddy's.

**What surprised me:** The 87-country scope. I expected India + a few neighboring markets. Dr. Reddy's is targeting the entire developing world simultaneously, making this a genuinely global access story, not just an India story. The Canada launch by May 2026 is particularly significant — Canada is a high-income country with similar drug utilization patterns to the US, so Canada will be the first real-world test of what happens when semaglutide goes generic in a comparable healthcare system.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Specific pricing for the Canada launch. Dr. Reddy's Canada pricing will be the most relevant international comparator for the US market. No pricing announced yet — follow up in April/May 2026.

**KB connections:**
- Primary: [[GLP-1 receptor agonists are the largest therapeutic category launch in pharmaceutical history but their chronic use model makes the net cost impact inflationary through 2035]]
- Secondary: the "evergreening" language from the court connects to pharmaceutical IP strategy and pricing claims more broadly
- Cross-domain potential: Rio should know about this — the generic export economics are a significant pharma finance story

**Extraction hints:**
- Primary claim: Delhi HC court ruling enabling generic semaglutide exports from India to countries where patents have expired, rejecting Novo Nordisk's "evergreening and double patenting" defenses
- Secondary claim: by end-2026, semaglutide patents will have expired in countries representing 48% of the global obesity burden — creating the infrastructure for a global generic market that the US patent wall cannot contain
- Don't extract the 87-country figure as a standalone claim — it's a business plan, not an outcome

**Context:** The December 2025 Bloomberg article and the March 2026 Whalesbook/KFF articles are different phases of the same story. The Bloomberg article documented the ongoing litigation; the March articles reported the final ruling and deployment plan. Both are part of the same source chain.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[GLP-1 receptor agonists are the largest therapeutic category launch in pharmaceutical history but their chronic use model makes the net cost impact inflationary through 2035]]

WHY ARCHIVED: The court ruling is the enabling legal event for the global generic rollout. Without it, Indian manufacturers faced patent litigation risk even in countries where primary patents expired. The ruling removes that risk and establishes the "evergreening" challenge precedent.

EXTRACTION HINT: The extractor should focus on: (1) the court's "evergreening and double patenting" rejection — this is a legal standard that will govern future generic challenges; (2) the 48% of global obesity burden coverage by end-2026; (3) the Canada May 2026 launch as the first high-income-country generic launch.
