{"id":795936,"date":"2026-07-11T23:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/795936\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T23:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T23:10:08","slug":"health-canada-approves-first-generic-semaglutide-for-weight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/795936\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Canada approves first generic semaglutide for weight loss"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Health Canada has authorized the first <a href=\"https:\/\/dhpp.hpfb-dgpsa.ca\/dhpp\/resource\/107181\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">generic semaglutide injection<\/a> indicated for weight loss.<\/p>\n<p>The drug, called Svemia, was submitted by Canadian-based Apotex and is a generic version of the brand-name drug Wegovy.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada says the authorization followed a review of evidence from the company showing the drug meets federal safety, efficacy and quality standards for generic drugs.<\/p>\n<p>Once-weekly treatment approved<\/p>\n<p>The semaglutide injection is approved as a once-weekly treatment for patients 12 and older for chronic weight management.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada says it is intended to be used along with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.<\/p>\n<p>The department says generic semaglutide products are complex synthetic products that are pharmaceutically equivalent to the brand-name biologic drug.<\/p>\n<p>Its review is meant to ensure any differences between the products do not affect safety, effectiveness or quality.<\/p>\n<p>Related Stories:<\/p>\n<p>More submissions under review<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada says it is currently reviewing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/services\/drug-health-product-review-approval\/generic-submissions-under-review.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">six other submissions<\/a> for generic semaglutide from different companies.<\/p>\n<p>The department says more regulatory decisions are expected in the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n<p>This is the third generic semaglutide product approved by Health Canada overall. Earlier this year, Apotex received approval for a generic semaglutide injection used once weekly to manage blood sugar levels in adults with Type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada says generic drugs can help create potential cost savings for patients and the health-care system.<\/p>\n<p>The department says it will continue monitoring the safety and effectiveness of all generic semaglutide products authorized in Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health Canada has authorized the first generic semaglutide injection indicated for weight loss. The drug, called Svemia, was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-795936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}