By Andrew Silver
SHANGHAI, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly’s popular drug Mounjaro will be added to China’s state-run health insurance scheme from January 1 for patients with type 2 diabetes, the National Healthcare Security Administration said in a website notice on Sunday, a move which analysts say could put pressure on competitors.
Inclusion in the national reimbursement list makes drugs more widely available to the public in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, but an increase in sales volume is often mitigated by lower prices.
Mounjaro, a once-weekly injectable therapy, was introduced in China in January this year following the launch of Ozempic, a similar diabetes therapy from rival Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, in 2021.
Ozempic was first added to China’s reimbursement list in 2022.
Sales of Ozempic in the greater China region rose to 5.76 billion Danish crowns ($898.5 million) in 2024, according to Novo’s annual report.
Lilly did not immediately respond to a request for the price of Mounjaro as a diabetes treatment under China’s reimbursement list – a figure negotiated with the government.
Macquarie Capital analysts wrote in a note Monday that Mounjaro could take market share away from Novo and Innovent Biologics , another obesity and diabetes drugmaker.
“Even if approved and reimbursed only for diabetes, Chinese patients are too smart. Tirzepatide will be used offlabel for obesity,” Tony Ren, head of Asia healthcare research at Macquarie Capital, told Reuters.
Mounjaro is also sold for obesity and obstructive sleep apnea in China.
“Although obesity treatments are typically priced at a premium compared to diabetes, the price cut for Mounjaro is likely to reshape the overall pricing structure for GLP-1 drugs, which could also affect Innovent’s Mazdutide pricing,” Cui Cui, head of Asia healthcare at Jefferies, told Reuters.
Shares in Innovent Biologics, which is approved to sell the diabetes and obesity drug mazdutide in China, fell 8% on Monday.
Patrik Jonsson, Eli Lilly’s international president, said in an October earnings call that Lilly had seen an “initial stocking” in the markets it had launched Mounjaro outside the U.S., with the big ones in the second quarter being China, Brazil, Mexico and India.
“Since then, we have seen a lift in the performance also in those markets in Q3 and a continued very strong performance globally,” he said during that call.
($1 = 6.4105 Danish crowns)
(Reporting by Andrew Silver; Editing by Jamie Freed and Stephen Coates)
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