By Rishika Sadam and Kashish Tandon

HYDERABAD (Reuters) - Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday launched its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy in India, three months after Eli Lilly began marketing its rival product Mounjaro in the world's most populous nation.

Wegovy is already under distribution and is expected to be in pharmacies by the end of the month, Novo Nordisk India Managing Director Vikrant Shrotriya said at a briefing.

Lilly and Novo have been part of obesity awareness programs in India in the lead-up to their drug launches there. The market potential in India, a nation of more than 1.4 billion, is significant, with obesity and diabetes rates steadily climbing.

Sales of Lilly's weight-loss drug Mounjaro jumped 60% between April and May, industry experts said.

Analysts said Wegovy, a once-a-week injection, had been priced competitively to Mounjaro in India, and that is likely to encourage wider adoption of those drugs.

Global demand for both Mounjaro and Wegovy has skyrocketed in recent years with supply limited, leading to shortages in countries such as the U.S.

Novo said in a separate statement to Reuters that it is not anticipating any supply constraints in India.

Wegovy will be available in five dose strengths in India, with 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg versions priced at 4,336.25 rupees ($50.71), the company said. The monthly cost would be 17,345 rupees, similar to Mounjaro.

Its 1.7 mg dose will be priced at 24,280 rupees, and the 2.4 mg version at 26,015 rupees for a month's supply.

Mounjaro, also a once-weekly injection, is priced at 3,500 rupees for a 2.5 mg vial and 4,375 rupees for a 5 mg vial, its lowest doses, the company said in March. Its highest dose is 15 mg.

Shrikant Akolkar, a pharmaceutical industry analyst at Nuvama Institutional Equities, said the pricing is "a little aggressive", as Wegovy's active ingredient semaglutide goes off patent next year in India.

"Generic drugmakers will surely launch the generic injection at a steep discount to these prices," Akolkar said.

India's generic drugmakers, including Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr. Reddy's and Lupin, are racing to produce cheaper copies of Wegovy.

Vishal Manchanda, an analyst at Systematix Institutional Equities, expected Wegovy prices "can correct 60% to 90%" once generics enter the market.

About 24% of women and nearly 23% of men aged 15 to 49 were either overweight or obese in India, a government survey conducted between 2019 and 2021 showed, up from 20.6% of women and 19% of men in 2015-2016.

Novo's Shrotriya said that with the higher dose of Wegovy, "one in three patients achieves 20% weight loss", adding it had conducted late-stage trials of injectable semaglutide on 3,500 individuals in India.

Wegovy has helped people lose an average 15% of their body weight, compared with nearly 23% achieved by Mounjaro, combined with a healthy diet and exercise, the company has said. 

Both Mounjaro and Wegovy belong to a class of therapies known as GLP-1 receptor agonists that help control blood sugar and slow digestion, making people feel fuller for longer.

Wegovy in India will be available in a "pen device", unlike conventional vials and syringes, the company said.

Novo's launch in India comes more than a month after then-CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen was ousted over concerns the company was losing its first-mover advantage in the highly competitive market. Novo is yet to name a replacement.

($1 = 86.0410 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Rishika Sadam in Hyderabad and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Anil D'Silva and Jan Harvey)