The Food and Drug Administration signed off on the first-ever weight-loss generic on Thursday, a knockoff of Novo Nordisk's Saxenda from Teva Pharmaceutical.
Saxenda, the branded name for liraglutide, first won approval in 2014. It costs roughly $1,350 per month before insurance rebates and discounts kick in. Now, Teva is launching its own version of liraglutide for adults with obesity and for adolescents age 12 to 17.
Like Novo's wildly popular weight-loss drug Wegovy, Saxenda mimics the GLP-1 hormone to curb hunger and improve blood sugar markers.
"With this approval, and by launching a generic Saxenda, we will provide patients in the U.S. the first ever generic GLP-1 product specifically indicated for weight loss," Ernie Richardson said in a written statement. Richardson is Teva's head of U.S. commercial generics.
Teva Pharmaceutical stock rose a fraction, closing at 18.07. Novo Nordisk shares edged down less than 1% to 56.11.
Teva Pharmaceutical Knocks Off Novo Nordisk
Saxenda has never been a very winning drug for Novo Nordisk. Over the past four years, it has generated a combined $5.03 billion in sales. Last year, alone, Wegovy brought in $8.13 billion in sales. This year, analysts project $12.63 billion for Wegovy and $551 million from Saxenda.
Still, Saxenda could be a boon for Teva Pharmaceutical. Compounding pharmacies have chipped away at sales of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss behemoth, Wegovy, showing patients crave a lower-cost option. Generic drugs often cost significantly less than their branded counterparts.
Generic liraglutide is the fifth generic drug Teva launched this year, Richardson said.
He called the weight-loss offering "an important addition to Teva's diverse complex generics portfolio, demonstrating once again our proven ability to sustain a world class generics powerhouse."
Teva Pharmaceutical stock is trading above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, but with a middling IBD Digital Relative Strength Rating of 47. Novo Nordisk stock, on the other hand, has dropped below both key moving averages and has a poor RS Rating of 5.
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