Sandoz plans Canadian generic semaglutide launch this year but omits GLP-1s from 2035 goals

Sandoz said on September 8, 2026 that it wants to sell a generic version of semaglutide in Canada for patients with diabetes before the year is out, and that regulators in Brazil cleared the same product in July ^[1]. The Swiss generics maker also told investors its sales goals through 2035 are built on no revenue from generic GLP-1 medicines at all ^[1].

Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus. Copies sold at lower prices would compete with those brand-name products.

Company bets on biosimilars

At its capital markets day, Sandoz said it expects to more than double yearly net sales by 2035, with biosimilars supplying most of the increase ^[1]. Biosimilars are biological medicines modeled on drugs whose patents have lapsed, and they are usually priced well below the originals ^[1]. The portfolio would grow from 13 products to 100 by 2040 ^[1]. Management is guiding for mid-to-high single-digit percentage growth in total net sales at constant currencies between 2025 and 2030, and repeated a mid-single-digit goal for 2028 ^[1].

Chief Executive Richard Saynor has said that about $650 billion of branded medicines lose patent exclusivity worldwide over the next ten years ^[1]. The company opened a biosimilar development center in Ljubljana in June after committing more than $1.1 billion in Slovenia, and will spend another $300 million there on a manufacturing site ^[1]. Shares fell 1.7% by 1510 GMT after rising as much as 5% earlier; the stock is up about 16% this year ^[1].

GLP-1 revenue left unquantified

Chief Financial Officer Remco Steenbergen would not attach a figure to the possible upside from generic GLP-1 drugs, saying forecasts are still highly uncertain, and told Reuters the opportunity is measured in "billions" of dollars ^[1]. He said the market could grow to between two and seven times its present size once cheaper copies are on sale, and that Sandoz intends to take "as much share as possible" ^[1].

Questions about Canada remain. NAVLIN Daily reported that Sandoz expected to launch its generic semaglutide there by the end of June 2026, that its Health Canada application had been filed and was still under review, and that Novo Nordisk's Canadian patent on semaglutide was due to lapse in the first quarter of 2026 after an annual maintenance fee went unpaid ^[2]. Sandoz's September 8 statement points to a Canadian launch this year ^[1]. Whether Health Canada has ruled on the application since has not been reported.

Turning to the United States, President Donald Trump threatened the generics industry in July with steep tariffs unless companies make their products domestically ^[1]. Saynor said Sandoz "continues to have a very good dialogue" with the administration and that it views companies like Sandoz "as part of the solution, not part of the problem." He added, "We would absolutely love to invest in the U.S." ^[1]

Why it matters for patients

Every launch discussed here sits outside the United States. Sandoz has not disclosed plans to sell generic semaglutide in the U.S., and no U.S. approval of one has been reported. Nothing described changes what Americans pay at the counter or which versions their pharmacies stock.

Leaving GLP-1 generics out of a plan that runs to 2035 signals that the legal and pricing path is still unsettled outside a handful of countries, even as cheaper copies are widely predicted ^[1]. Steenbergen's range of two to seven times the current market size implies expectations of both lower prices and treatment for many more people; the pace of that shift, and the countries where it happens first, has not been established ^[1].

What happens next

Sandoz is aiming for a Canadian launch during this year ^[1], while an earlier report put the target at the end of June 2026 ^[2]. Brazil's approval came in July, and no launch date there has been disclosed ^[1]. On the broader portfolio, the company's stated goal is 100 biosimilars by 2040, with the extra $300 million Ljubljana facility part of that build-out ^[1].