Generic semaglutide uptake drove roughly 40% GLP-1 sales growth at Loblaw as weight-management drug plan spend climbs
Pharmacy same-store sales at Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Metro Inc. outpaced each company's food business in their most recent quarters, with the prescriptions category driving the gains in Canada.
The Canadian Press put drug retail same-store sales growth at 4.6 percent for Loblaw and pharmacy same-store sales growth at 4.8 percent for Metro.
Loblaw, which owns Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix, recorded a roughly 40 percent surge in GLP-1 sales in each of its last two quarters, and executives are projecting double-digit growth for those sales in 2027.
“We are beginning to see the impact of GLP-1 drugs going generic. It's still very early, but the initial indications are encouraging,” Per Bank, chief executive of Loblaw, told analysts on a July earnings call, in remarks reported by The Canadian Press.
Metro, which owns Jean Coutu pharmacies, expects volume growth to absorb much of the price decline that follows generic entry.
“As generic supply continues to build, we expect ongoing expansion of the GLP-1 category to drive low-teens volume and contribution growth,” outgoing chief executive Eric La Flèche told analysts, as reported by The Canadian Press.
Veritas analyst Kathleen Wong wrote in an August note that higher volumes should offset a meaningful portion of the price pressure from generic entry, though dollar-measured pharmacy same-store sales remain exposed to deflation.
Health Canada authorized a generic version of semaglutide on April 28, making Canada the first G7 country to do so.
A second generic, from Canadian-based Apotex, followed on May 1, for type 2 diabetes.
On June 29, Health Canada authorized the first generic semaglutide injection for weight loss, a generic of Wegovy indicated for patients 12 years and over, with six further submissions under review.
Generic medications in Canada are typically 45 to 90 percent cheaper than brand-name versions, according to Health Canada, a figure cited in Benefits and Pensions Monitor's coverage of the weight-loss generic approval.
The TELUS Health 2026 Drug Data Trends and National Benchmarks Report put growth in weight-management therapies at 61.0 percent in 2025, following 104.0 percent growth in 2024.
The category now accounts for 2.5 percent of total eligible spend and ranks 11th among private drug plan categories, according to the report, which draws on claims data covering more than 15 million insured people in Canada.
Diabetes drugs remain the top private-plan category at 13.2 percent of spend, and private drug plans account for approximately 38 percent of all prescribed drug spending in Canada.
Group insurers told Benefits and Pensions Monitor in August that plan sponsors have not overhauled drug plan design.
“It's been pretty status quo,” said Sunil Hirjee, vice president, group sales and partner experience, Ontario, Western and Atlantic Canada at Beneva.
Christine Than, a drug benefit consultant and Canadian pharmacy leader at WTW, told the publication, “It's very much a wait and see, but [plan sponsors] are very attentive to what's going to happen in the next few weeks and months.”
Amar Singh, senior director and head of Canadian retail insights at Kantar, expects GLP-1 uptake to reach about 20 percent over the next year or two, he told The Canadian Press.
Eight percent, or three million Canadians, were on prescription GLP-1s at the time of a Leger poll conducted in March, the survey suggested.
Expanding GLP-1 use beyond diabetes and weight management, including MASH and obstructive sleep apnea, was identified as a pipeline pressure for employer drug plans in an Alberta Blue Cross report covered by Benefits and Pensions Monitor.
