New Delhi: The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has asked all drugmakers having marketing authorisation to sell glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist drugs for obesity management to not partake in any promotional activities for the prescription-only drug.
GLP-1 agonists are a class of medicines that help regulate blood sugar, increase fullness (satiety), and slow stomach emptying, leading to weight loss and improved glucose control in patients with Type-2 diabetes and obesity.
“Any promotional activity, including so-called awareness campaigns that function as a surrogate advertisement for prescription-only drugs shall be viewed seriously and may be treated as irrational or misleading marketing practice,” the central drug regulatory body said in a public advisory dated March 11.
This comes after some pharmaceutical companies have stepped up multimedia awareness campaigns, not directly promoting their drugs, but building awareness around obesity being a disease and encouraging users to consult doctors, as the race for India’s GLP-1 drug market intensifies.
American pharma major Eli Lilly has been running a multimedia obesity awareness campaign since last year, and recently it ran ad films featuring celebrities like Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak, and Supriya Pathak to raise awareness of obesity as a disease and urge doctor consultations.
Similarly, Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk recently ran an advertisement on the front page of a leading national daily, urging readers to consult a doctor for obesity management.
As a result, the CDSCO has prohibited all manufacturers, importers, and marketing authorisation holders from advertising GLP-1-based products.
“Any promotional activity carried out under the pretext of disease awareness, influencer engagement, corporate campaigns, or similar activities that create brand recall/product visibility of the prescription shall also be treated as violations,” the advisory added.
With Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster GLP-1 agonist drug semaglutide, better known by its brand name Ozempic, going off patent on March 20, Indian markets are also expected to be flooded with more than 30 cheaper generic versions.
Over the past year, new launches in the injectable GLP-1 agonist segment — such as Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic — have already driven a 177 per cent rise in sales in this category on a moving annual turnover (MAT) basis to ₹1,446 crore in February 2026, compared with ₹571 crore in February 2025.
Of these, Mounjaro and Ozempic are currently approved in India only for Type-2 diabetes, and prescriptions are restricted to diabetic patients.
However, with awareness among the broader population limited, companies are turning to multimedia campaigns focused on obesity awareness since Indian regulations prohibit direct-to-consumer drug advertising.
India’s large disease burden has also made it an attractive market for weight-loss therapies. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates for 2023-24, the country has around 101 million people living with diabetes, and another 136 million with pre-diabetes.
Studies suggest India also has 254 million people with generalised obesity, and 351 million with abdominal obesity.
