Delhi HC refuses to stay order allowing Dr Reddy’s to export semaglutide

New Delhi: The division bench of the Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stay its single-judge order that allowed Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to manufacture its version of diabetes and anti-obesity drug Semaglutide in India for export to countries where Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk does not hold a patent for the drug. A bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla said that the grounds of irreparable injury and balance of convenience taken by the Danish firm in its appeal was a “very weak case” for grant of stay against its single-judge order. “We will issue notice on appeal, we will not stay the (single judge’s) order,” the division bench said, while seeking response from Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and OneSource Speciality on Novo Nordisk’s appeal.

The case will next be heard on January 15. The Danish firm, which developed the drug, sells it under the brand names Wegovy (for weight loss) and Rybelsus (for Type-2 diabetes) in India. It also has regulatory approval to sell Ozempic (for Type-2 diabetes). The drug, belonging to the GLP-1 class of drugs, has been at the centre of a patent dispute in India. On December 2, the single judge had allowed Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to manufacture semaglutide in India and export it, in a patent infringement case filed by Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk. However, it barred Dr Reddy’s from domestic sales till March 2026, when Novo Nordisk’s secondary patent expires.

Novo Nordisk had claimed that such export activity constituted infringement under the Patents Act, which grants the patentee exclusive rights over making, using and exporting the patented invention. Novo Nordisk had entered the Indian market with Wegovy in June, pricing the drug between ₹17,000 and ₹25,000 per month in five strengths, administered using a pen device. It cut the price by nearly 40% in mid-November. Novo Nordisk’s primary consumption patent for semaglutide expired in September 2024. However, it still holds the secondary patent in India relating to specific formulations and the delivery mechanism of the drug, which is now scheduled to expire in March 2026.