{"id":683472,"date":"2026-05-20T18:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683472\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:03:10","slug":"generic-semaglutide-to-hit-canadian-pharmacies-this-week-at-lower-cost-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683472\/","title":{"rendered":"Generic semaglutide to hit Canadian pharmacies this week at lower cost &#8211; National"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\tDescrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tIncrease article font size<\/p>\n<p>Two generic versions of <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/ozempic\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ozempic<\/a> are set to start arriving in Canadian pharmacies this week, which means patients who use the drug to treat diabetes or for weight loss may have more options for a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Health Canada approved both Dr. Reddy\u2019s and Apotex\u2019s generic <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/tag\/semaglutide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">semaglutide<\/a> \u2014 the active ingredient in brand-name Ozempic \u2014 about three weeks ago.<\/p>\n<p>Apotex is based in Canada and says it began shipping its product on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>India-based Dr. Reddy\u2019s says its semaglutide has already arrived in \u201cselect\u201d Canadian pharmacies and will be available more widely across the country in the coming days.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/healthiq.jpg\" alt=\"Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n<p>Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Apotex says its generic semaglutide will be approximately one-third the price of Novo Nordisk\u2019s brand-name Ozempic.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Dr. Reddy\u2019s did not disclose pricing details except to say that it will be \u201ccompetitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Ozempic can currently cost hundreds of dollars a month.<\/p>\n<p>Both Ozempic and the generic semaglutide products are approved by Health Canada for management of diabetes, but some doctors prescribe it off-label for weight loss.<\/p>\n<p>According to the pricing structure of the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance, when two generic medications enter the market, they are at least 50 per cent cheaper than the brand name \u2014 but companies can price them lower.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Health<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Vital, Canada\u2019s pharmaceutical supply chain alliance, confirmed that generic semaglutide products are on their way to pharmacies but are going through distributors first.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPatients should be aware that availability may vary across regions as products move through the supply chain to Canada\u2019s more than 10,000 pharmacies,\u201d a spokesperson for Vital said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cManufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies are working collaboratively to ensure supply reaches patients safely and securely, and as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Spokespersons from both Rexall and Shoppers Drug Mart said they expect shipment by the end of the week.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada is still reviewing several other submissions for generic semaglutide.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Two generic versions of Ozempic are set to start arriving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,9636,137,490,7716,9637,18603],"class_list":["post-683472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-glp-1","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-ozempic","tag-semaglutide","tag-weight-loss-drugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}