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Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

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Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#71

Post by greycol »

stevehawk wrote: post #42
gpt5 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canadian manufacturers (Sandoz and Apotex) are preparing to launch their own generic versions in early 2026. I bet many Americans would travel to Canada to buy it there (despite the legality concerns). The medications lasts 2 years in a refrigerator.

the shelf life is probably longer than that if you buy it in dehydrated form and don't hydrate it (but i have no idea)

While I'm all for saving costs, I would be shocked if mixing your own inject-able medicine either weekly (with the chance of making a mistake in dosage or sterility) or too such a high degree of sterility that you can confidentally store several doses is not worth the $200 return flight every two years. Maybe I'm overestimating the risks but it still seems like a small saving for it.

Realistically the cost of semiglutide in generic form means you could fly return every 90 days (personal import restriction for perscription meds) and still save $1000 every 3 months (3x$500 monthly - return flight - generic cost).

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#72

Post by duxup »

jzebedee wrote: post #4

> Prof. Michael Hoffman from Toronto put me on to the Canadian Patent Database, where you can find that Novo did file a patent there for semaglutide. . .but the last time they paid the annual maintenance fee on it was 2018! > You can even find a letter where their lawyers send a refund request for the 2017 maintenance fee ($250) because Novo apparently wanted some more time to see if they wanted to pay it. > On the s…

That letter from lawyers probably cost more than 250 …

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#73

Post by Muromec »

valicord wrote: post #60
toomuchtodo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45638316

That's mainly for visitors. If you're a US resident, you can't just buy medicines abroad, unless of course we are talking about the "they won’t get caught" scenario.

Sounds like an opportunity for non-residents.

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#74

Post by abirch »

duxup wrote: post #72
jzebedee wrote: post #4

> Prof. Michael Hoffman from Toronto put me on to the Canadian Patent Database, where you can find that Novo did file a patent there for semaglutide. . .but the last time they paid the annual maintenance fee on it was 2018! > You can even find a letter where their lawyers send a refund request for the 2017 maintenance fee ($250) because Novo apparently wanted some more time to see if they wanted to pay it. > On the s…

That letter from lawyers probably cost more than 250 …

The sad thing is they probably were billed 500 dollars for the lawyers to “read” it.

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#75

Post by choilive »

greycol wrote: post #71
stevehawk wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the shelf life is probably longer than that if you buy it in dehydrated form and don't hydrate it (but i have no idea)

While I'm all for saving costs, I would be shocked if mixing your own inject-able medicine either weekly (with the chance of making a mistake in dosage or sterility) or too such a high degree of sterility that you can confidentally store several doses is not worth the $200 return flight every two years. Maybe I'm overestimating the risks but it still seems like a small saving for it. Realistically the cost of semiglu…

Its remarkably straightforward. Not fool-proof, but easy. Bacteriostatic water, single use needles/syringes, and self healing injection port vials makes it simple to maintain sterility throughout the process.

Multiple doses can be mixed and stored in the fridge for 4-6 weeks.

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#76

Post by abirch »

alister wrote: post #44

> Interviewer at Endpoints: You plan to potentially launch a generic GLP-1 in Canada and Brazil in 2026. Looking at the original interview on Endpoints, Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor says this about Brazil: In Brazil, the biggest prescribers are dentists. Everyone says, “Why dentists?” They do aesthetic work, and then you have your Botox, and then you want a bikini body. It’s behaving like an OTC consumer brand. Imagine…

1. In the USA people use compounding companies to get around patents.

2. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#77

Post by duxup »

abirch wrote: post #74
duxup wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That letter from lawyers probably cost more than 250 …

The sad thing is they probably were billed 500 dollars for the lawyers to “read” it.

I have an acquaintance working big law. They said the billing was "more offensive thank you could possibly imagine" ... but they took the money of course.

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#78

Post by chronos00 »

valicord wrote: post #60
toomuchtodo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45638316

That's mainly for visitors. If you're a US resident, you can't just buy medicines abroad, unless of course we are talking about the "they won’t get caught" scenario.

US residents can buy medicines abroad the FDA link says personal importation is allowed as long as the medicines are FDA approved and are not being imported for commercial purposes. Now in the context of the original post maybe generic versions of Ozempic won't technically be FDA approved yet if the company that produces it has to wait for the US patent to expire.

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#79

Post by chronos00 »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #20

AIUI, because they let the patent expire, the drug was not subject to price regulation by the government. So they could charge whatever. And during most of that time, they were still protected by 'data exclusivity' which means that any generic producer could not get approved without doing their own clinical trials, until 8 years had passed. So they gave up some period of exclusivity in return for being able to charge…

Seems like a plausible explanation, the government should reform the price regulation laws to avoid this endrun around price controls.

Re: Novo Nordisk's Canadian Mistake

#80

Post by giarc »

abirch wrote: post #76
alister wrote: post #44

> Interviewer at Endpoints: You plan to potentially launch a generic GLP-1 in Canada and Brazil in 2026. Looking at the original interview on Endpoints, Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor says this about Brazil: In Brazil, the biggest prescribers are dentists. Everyone says, “Why dentists?” They do aesthetic work, and then you have your Botox, and then you want a bikini body. It’s behaving like an OTC consumer brand. Imagine…

1. In the USA people use compounding companies to get around patents. 2. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/...

I think that loophole has closed. If I recall correctly, compounding pharmacies were only allowed to do that as the US gov put the drug on a special list due to shortages. I believe they have removed it from this list (or will do shortly) and that pipeline will stop.
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