Pharmatrac
Semaglutide mkt sees strong Jul pickup after brief lull May-Jun
This story was originally published at 12:51 IST on 8 August 2026
Register to read our real-time news.Informist, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026
Please click here to read all liners published on this story
--Pharmatrac: Tirzepatide continues to dominate GLP-1 agonist market
--CONTEXT: Comments by Pharmatrac's analysts at webinar
--Pharmatrac: GLP-1 mkt saw major rise in unit sales post generic launches
--Pharmatrac: GLP-1 market had slowed in recent months but picked up in Jul
--Pharmatrac: Growth in GLP-1 mkt in Jul driven by both innovators, generics
--Pharmatrac: Semaglutide solids see value, user rise Jul after May-Jun lull
--Pharmatrac:Generic semaglutide injectable unit sales rise to 192,000 in Jul
--Pharmatrac: Innovator semaglutide injectable unit sales rise to 41,000 in Jul
--Pharmatrac: Wegovy, Ozempic, Poviztra key innovator brands showing growth
--Pharmatrac: Indian pharma market reported 12.1% value growth YoY in Jul
--Pharmatrac: Mounjaro retains top spot at moving annual total, monthly level
--Pharmatrac: Price, volume, new product launches aid pharma mkt July growth
By Gunjan Rajput and Eshitva Prakash
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI – The semaglutide solids market saw a significant uptick in value and unit sales in July after a lull in May and June, driven by a pickup in generic brands, Pharmatrac analysts said at a webinar on the Indian pharmaceutical market's July performance.
"As far as the semaglutide solids is concerned, we see a similar trend where the market has moved up in terms of value as well as in terms of units," Sheetal Sapale, vice president, commercial, Pharmatrac, said. "The lull that was seen in the month of June over the month of May, in the month of July, there is a significant uptick. "The broader semaglutide market also saw stronger momentum in July. "After a brief lull in the month of July, the semaglutide market has shown a stronger uptick in the month of July," Sapale said, adding that innovators maintained a steady upward sales trend while a few generic brands showed stronger momentum.
In the injectable segment, generic semaglutide unit sales rose to 192,000 in July from 166,000 in June, an increase of nearly 30,000 units. Innovator unit sales also rose by about 5,000 units during the month to 41,000.
"So, almost a 30,000 unit uptick that we have seen in generics in the last one month," Sapale said. "As far as the innovators are concerned, almost 5,000 units uptick."
Despite generic competition, innovator brands continued to grow. Wegovy, Ozempic, Poviztra, and Extensire all recorded gradual improvement in sales, according to Pharmatrac's July Indian Pharmaceutical Market data. "So, despite the generic onslaught, the innovator brands have shown steady growth," Sapale said. Separately, the Indian pharmaceutical market posted 12.1% year-on-year value growth in July, with all 20 therapy areas recording positive value growth.
There are around 33 generic semaglutide injectable brands in the market, of which 11 accounted for around 80% of unit sales in July. "It is not that everybody can make it big," Sapale said. "The market becomes challenging as many competitors enter the market, and it is those few key competitors or the few key players who manage to dominate this segment."
The broader glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist market has grown nearly five-fold since January 2025 and is currently valued around INR 22 billion, with tirzepatide remaining the strongest player. Semaglutide and tirzepatide have been the key drivers of the market's expansion, Pharmatrac data showed. "Tirzepatide becomes the strongest player in this segment," Sapale said. "Semaglutide and tirzepatide have made a major impact" in the market's expansion since January 2025.
All three growth drivers--price, volume and new product launches--were positive in July. Pharmatrac data showed a stronger contribution from volume, indicating that growth was not merely driven by prices or new product introductions. "This actually means that it is not just price-driven growth or a new introduction-driven growth, but a genuine demand in the sales has increased," the analyst said.
Mounjaro retained the top position at both the Moving Annual Total and monthly levels, followed by Augmentin and Glycomet GP.
Pharmatrac data also expects the recent uptick in acute therapies to continue over the next two to three months, depending on the monsoon trend, Sapale said. "In India, the second half of the year is the time where the majority of the therapies start picking up," Sapale said. "If you look at all the years, markets have started picking up from the month of July and the same phenomena we are seeing even this year." The analyst said the monsoon could make the seasonal recovery in acute therapies stronger in the coming months, with states such as Kerala, Maharashtra, and Gujarat, along with parts of northern India, likely to see a significant uptick in some therapy areas. "Whether this uptick will stay as an uptick in the month of August, September, October will depend upon how the monsoon trends also proceed in the consecutive months," Sapale said. Antibacterials, cough-and-cold medicines and analgesics have started seeing a seasonal pickup, in line with the normal disease pattern during the monsoon, she said. Systemic antihistamines are also expected to continue growing over the next two to three months. End
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.
Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.
Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 /+91 (11) 4220-1000
Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com
© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.
To read more please subscribe
Share this Story:
