--- title: "Something Comically Bad Just Happened to the Inventor of Ozempic" description: "Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharma company behind Ozempic, made a very dumb decision a few years ago that will massively eat into its profits." date: "2025-06-19" modified: "2025-06-19" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/ozempic-inventor-generic-fee" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "generic drugs" - "novo nordisk" - "ozempic" - "semaglutide" --- # Something Comically Bad Just Happened to the Inventor of Ozempic ![Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharma company behind Ozempic, made a very dumb decision a few years ago that will massively eat into its profits.]() *\Image: Kristian Tuxen Ladegaard Berg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Futurism\* Novo Nordisk, the Danish company behind Ozempic and Wegovy, made one very dumb decision a few years ago that's now poised to massively eat into its profits — a wild twist in the pharma company's saga, and an all-time cautionary tale for its peers. When watching an interview with the head of generic drugmaker Sandoz, [*Science* magazine columnist Derek Lowe]() learned something incredible: that Novo failed to renew its Canadian patent on semaglutide, the active ingredient in the uber-expensive drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Speaking to the [biopharma industry outlet *Endpoints News*]() earlier this month, Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor dropped the information as an aside in a larger conversation about the company's plans to sell generic semaglutide in Canada in 2026 — the same year that Novo's patent expires there due to the filing oversight. "Canada, we filed and are waiting for approval once the data exclusivity expires sometime in Q1 next year," Saynor told *Endpoints*. "Interesting market. Novo never filed a patent in Canada." Saynor, to be clear, was not quite correct in saying Novo never filed for a semaglutide patent in Canada — but the truth of the matter is actually way funnier. Lowe learned, via trawling through [Canadian patent records](), that Novo last filed to renew its semaglutide patent in the great white north back in the year 2018. When the regulatory body that governs patents reminded the Danish manufacturer that it was time to pay the annual maintenance fee, a paltry $250, Novo hemmed and hawed about whether it wanted to pay for so long that it quite literally lapsed. Incredibly the Canadian patent office even gave the company a year-long grace period to make up for it, but the company never took the authorities up on the offer. "Once a patent has lapsed," the Canadian patent officials reminded Novo Nordisk in a letter viewed by Lowe, "it cannot be revived." As the Sandoz CEO remarked in his *Endpoints* interview, there's little doubt that "someone's lost their job" over the patent problem in Canada. Indeed, Saynor described that country as Novo's second-largest semaglutide market, and Ozempic sales in Canada garnered the pharma giant [$2.5 billion CAD last year](). "You gotta ask why. I don’t think Canadians are disproportionately large," Saynor said. "There’s clearly a dynamic, like insulin, with cross-border business. It’s going to be interesting to see how that evolves." Novo has, notably, kept up with its patent fees in the US, and generic semaglutide won't hit American shelves until at least 2032 — but as Saynor alluded to, they might be able to drive up to Canada to get it next year. **More on Ozempic:** [*McDonald's in Trouble as Ozempic Takes Hold*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()