Context:
- Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy reportedly generated global annual revenue of up to $40 billion in 2025. At the heart of these products is the active ingredient semaglutide (glp-1 receptor), which is what treats type 2 diabetes and aids long-term weight management. A large part of their success is Novo Nordisk’s patent filing activity: the company has managed to retain its corner of the type 2 diabetes treatment market by filing semaglutide patents in over two dozen jurisdictions. It has also paid renewal fees in major markets like the U.S. and EU, and was granted an adjusted expiration date that extended one of its U.S. patents’ lives to December 2030.
- However, one of Novo Nordisk’s key semaglutide patents (CN101133082B) expires in March 2026. The company has previously stated that this expiration date could have an estimated negative low-single-digit impact on global sales growth in 2026.
What’s new: In China, the Supreme People’s Court has handed a key win to Novo Nordisk, upholding the validity of the company’s semaglutide compound patent (December 31, 2025 Novo Nordisk press release). The decision confirms a previous decision by the Beijing IP Court to recognize the patent’s validity.
Direct impact and wider ramifications: This will be a welcome development for Novo Nordisk, which has suffered several recent blows in its efforts to extend its semaglutide patent, as well as enforce it. Last month, Brazil’s Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) dismissed a special appeal Novo Nordisk had filed to request a patent term extension (December 22, 2025 ip fray article). Meanwhile, in India, the Delhi High Court denied an interim injunction it had sought against local drugmaker Dr. Reddy’s (December 4, 2025 ip fray article). It also lost a dispute against rival Viatris in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware (July 25, 2025 ip fray article) and let one of its patents lapse in Canada (June 16, 2025 ip fray article).
In a statement last week, Novo Nordisk’s President and CEO Mike Doustdar said:
“This outcome is very positive for semaglutide and demonstrates firm government support for protecting medical innovation. This decision also strengthens confidence for foreign companies’ sustainable development in China and will motivate further development and introduction of innovative medicines for the benefit of patients.”