By Rishika Sadam

BENGALURU, June 28 (Reuters) - India is planning to

offer incentives to promote local manufacturing of GLP-1 drugs

used to treat diabetes and obesity, in 2026, a top government

official said on Friday.

GLP-1 drugs, originally approved to treat diabetes, are also

widely being used to treat obesity as they slow digestion,

helping patients feel full longer.

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk's patent on

semaglutide - a GLP-1 agonist and the key ingredient in its

wildly popular obesity drug Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic -

is set to expire in India in 2026, industry experts say.

"The (Indian) companies (planning) manufacturing GLP-1 drugs

have applied for the government's production-linked incentive

(PLI) scheme," Arunish Chawla, Secretary of Department of

Pharmaceuticals, told Reuters.

"Once they start manufacturing in 2026 after patent

expiries, we will give them the incentive," said Chawla, without

disclosing the names of these companies.

Drugmakers across the globe are looking to grab a slice of

the weight-loss drugs market, which is estimated to reach at

least $100 billion by the end of the decade.

India has high obesity rates, especially among women, and

has the world's second-highest number of people with type 2

diabetes. Around 11% of Indian adults will be obese by 2035,

according to the World Obesity Federation Atlas.

Domestic drugmakers Biocon, Sun Pharma,

Cipla, Dr Reddy's and Lupin are

all part of this club. They were not immediately available for

comment on Friday.

India has offered incentives since 2020 to spur local

manufacturing of everything from electronic products to drones,

but has been successful only in a handful of them.

The drugmakers that will be considered for the upcoming

incentive scheme have labeled their GLP-1 drugs use case as

'anti-diabetic' in their application, Chawla said.

"Their usage for obesity will depend on necessary approvals

at that time from the drug regulator."