Novo Nordisk Canada's Adam Marsella explains how a new savings program aims to keep plan sponsors on Ozempic amid generic rollout
After much anticipation, the generic wave of semaglutide has finally arrived for plan sponsors but Novo Nordisk Canada, the Canadian arm of the pharma company behind brand name Ozempic, isn’t backing down.
Earlier this month, the pharmaceutical giant rolled out a savings card program designed to bring plan members’ out-of-pocket costs in line with what they'd pay for a generic alternative - a move they believe signals how aggressively the company intends to defend its market position as competitors multiply.
Savings program created to keep up with market
When asked how they’re competing as generics come to market, Adam Marsella, director of external affairs at Novo Nordisk Canada, framed the program as a response to shifting market dynamics.
“Our commitment is to serve and continue to serve the one million plus Canadians who are currently on semaglutide and Ozempic being the biggest component to that," he said.
As for the savings card itself, plan members visit Ozempic.ca, enter an email address, and receive a digital savings card. They present the card at their pharmacy, where it coordinates with existing private drug coverage. Marsella underscored the program adds no cost to plan sponsors or plan members.
"The program is really designed to coordinate with the patient's existing private coverage and will enable choice to eligible patients who choose Ozempic," he said.
According to Marsella, Novo Nordisk's roots in Canada stretch back more than a century. Marsella noted the company's founders visited Sir Frederick Banting at the University of Toronto in 1922 to secure commercialization rights for insulin, an origin story he cited to underscore a long institutional commitment to chronic disease. The company has operated in Canada for more than 40 years and launched Ozempic in 2018.
With generics now entering the market, that history is being put to a commercial test.
"Every product has a natural life cycle," he added. "With generic competitors entering the marketplace, we need to try and align our offering and also to support the million plus patients that rely on semaglutide, largely Ozempic."
Marsella pointed to chronic disease - diabetes in particular - as one of the top cost concerns for plan sponsors, with serious complications like heart attack, stroke, and chronic kidney disease now hitting people at younger ages.
Marsella believes that trend is playing out globally, not just in Canada, and it's shifting more of the burden onto employer-sponsored plans.
Ozempic originator claims 'a right to exist' alongside generics
Moreover, with more than a million patients on semaglutide in Canada, demand remains high. Marsella believes the company views itself as a reliable option in a market that's getting more competitive.
"Generics have a right to exist in the marketplace, but so do we as an originator," he said.
Canada remains the only country so far in the G7 to approve a generic version of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. When asked whether Canada remains a priority given that generics haven't penetrated the US market – or elsewhere - to the same degree, Marsella emphasized how diabetes and cardiometabolic disease are central to the company's identity. He positioned the company as one manufacturer among many working on the problem, but one with no intention of stepping back.
“As a company with 100 plus year heritage in diabetes and cardiometabolic disease, we don't shift gears away from this space," he said. "This is core to who we are as a company."
He pointed to figures from Diabetes Canada to emphasize the point of unmet need, noting four million Canadians have diagnosed diabetes, and when undiagnosed and pre-diabetic populations are factored in, roughly 30 percent of the country is affected.
Marsella acknowledged the company is running clinical trials across Canada in diabetes, cardiometabolic disease, obesity, and other conditions.
He also highlighted the Novo Nordisk patient support program, which extends beyond Ozempic and offers assistance that goes past copay relief, as well as the company's partnership with the University of Toronto through the Novo Nordisk Network for Healthy Populations, which focuses on chronic disease prevention.
Where plan sponsors fit in Novo Nordisk’s strategy
Pointing to Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) report that found 27 million Canadians access private health benefits through employer-sponsored or private plans, Marsella emphasized how chronic disease is striking those at younger ages. As a result, the cost burden is shifting from the public system onto employers in ways it didn't two decades ago, when type 2 diabetes was largely a concern for retirees in their seventies, Marsella said.
“Private plan sponsors have a critical role to play there in helping their members lead healthy and productive lives,” said Marsella. “I know that aligns well with their value proposition, and it aligns well with our ambition and how we see the role of our products playing.”
