The Danish drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk is losing the patent for its popular weight loss drug semaglutide, sold as Wegovy for obesity and Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes. The patent expires Saturday in India, China and other heavy populated nations which opens the door for more affordable generic versions of the hugely popular GLP-1 medication.

Generic versions are already expected to be available in India this weekend and will be available in the coming months in Canada, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa, according to the New York Times.  

This significant development means that starting this weekend, pharmaceutical companies in countries where the patent expires can begin producing and selling generic forms of the drug. As a result, millions more people may have access to these important medications at reduced prices, potentially transforming diabetes and obesity treatment options in developing regions. The drugs have also been shown to help prevent heart attacks and stroke.

The patent expiration is another blow for Novo Nordisk which saw its global market share slide in recent years as competition soared, particularly from the American drug manufacturer Ely Lilly which sells the weight loss drug Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. Lilly expects to retain its patent for at least another decade in most major markets.

Once generics arrive in Canada, where Novo Nordisk’s patent protection expired in January, experts predict that many U.S. customers will order their drugs from Canadian pharmacies. And when they arrive in other, poorer countries where high prices have made them previously prohibitive, the generic versions of semaglutide will bring benefits to more patients with prices as low as $3 monthly.

Chinese manufacturers are already manufacturing versions of semaglutide that are being sold in global markets, including compounded versions for American consumers.

In the U.S. and Europe, patent protection laws offer extended protection as a nod to drug manufacturing, allowing them to spend more time developing and testing new pharmaceuticals so Americans won’t be seeing an influx of generic weight loss drugs any time soon.

“These policies are essentially subsidies for the pharmaceutical industry,” at huge expense for American and European patients and taxpayers, said Tahir Amin, chief executive of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge, or I-MAK, a nonprofit that tracks drug patents.

Novo Nordisk recently struck a deal with the Trump administration in exchange for relief from the president’s threatened tariffs, which cut prices for its products. But that deal did not cut prices as deeply as generic competition would have, according to the Times.

So, for now, U.S. customers will still have to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket for GLP-1 medications unless they’re covered by health insurance.