Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has launched its novel type-2 diabetes medicine, Remoglifozin, at half the price of the similar products available in the country. This is the latest class of oral anti-diabetes drug, SGLT2i (sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor) and is priced over 50% lower than the existing SGLT2 inhibitors in India.
The higher cost of the existing SGLT2 inhibitors has meant that the drug is not accessible to a large section of the affected population and the market has remained small. Globally, SGLT2 inhibitors are emerging as a preferred treatment for management of type-2 diabetes but in India the SGLT2 drug had total sales of Rs 574 crore in three years because of its high cost, said Alok Malik, SVP, president, India Formulations, Chronic Cluster , Glenmark Pharmaceuticals.
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With Remoglifozin launch, Glenmark hopes that access to the drug will improve significantly. The average per day therapy cost of SGLT2 inhibitor in India is around Rs 55 while Remoglifozin will cost Rs 25 per day. However, this may not elicit any response from competition to lower their prices, Malik said.
When Glenmark had launched anti-diabetic drug Teneligliptin in 2015 at 55% lower rate than the other DPP4 (dipeptidyl peptidase-4) inhibitors available in the market, competition held their price.