India’s March 20 patent expiry on semaglutide could prove a watershed in the global fight against obesity. With the molecule behind GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic now open to generic competition, Indian pharmaceutical companies are preparing to bring cheaper versions to market, which will extend access at home and across the developing world.
Known as the ‘world’s pharmacy,’ India already provides over half of Africa’s generic drugs, with cheaper semaglutide positioning it to help countries where obesity rates are greatly outpacing affordable treatments. Yet, as Simon Barquera, president of the World Obesity Federation, has rightly asserted, “medication alone will not reverse the global rise in obesity,” reminding that “obesity is a complex, chronic disease” while stressing the importance of prevention and healthier environments.
Crucially, a rushed reliance on anti-obesity drugs, fueled by misleading social media content, risks compounding other distortions in the online obesity debate, including the blanket demonisation of ultra-processed foods (UPFs). Moreover, with social media itself helping drive obesity through rising screen time and more sedentary lifestyles, policymakers should resist the lure of quick fixes and pursue comprehensive, prevention-led solutions.
India’s obesity drug journey reflecting global picture
India is only the opening act of what could become a much broader upheaval in the anti-obesity drug market. By the end of 2026, core semaglutide patents will also have expired in 10 countries representing almost half of the global obesity burden, including Brazil, China, and Canada. This development is sure to accelerate the drug manufacturing race in India, where rising incomes and urban lifestyles have sparked both soaring obesity rates and rising demand for GLP-1 drugs.
Yet the excitement surrounding these drugs is matched, among serious clinicians, by a good deal more caution. While treatments can be highly effective, they are not without side effects: nausea, vomiting and digestive problems are common, while more serious complications can include gallstones or pancreatitis. Nor are the positive results always sustainable, with many patients regaining weight after stopping, most eventually hitting a plateau, and fat loss from prolonged use potentially causing muscle loss in the absence of regular exercise.
These drawbacks make the GLP-1 hype especially troubling. Social media and celebrity endorsements have encouraged the fantasy of dramatic weight loss in a matter of weeks, turning these drugs into an aspirational quick fix. As Mumbai-based diabetologist Rahul Baxi has warned, “with all the media hype and social media buzz, these drugs have become something of a craze among affluent Indians eager to shed a few kilos.” As prices fall, other physicians have cautioned that misuse may spread, amid reports of high-dose prescribing by unqualified practitioners and slimming “packages” marketed for weddings and other events.
Instead, Dr. Baxi rightly urges patients to improve diet and lifestyle before turning to medication, stressing that “these medicines aren’t a substitute for a proper diet or lifestyle change.” Where treatment is appropriate, he adds that “gradual weight loss, slow dose escalation, and a focus on protein intake, exercise and strength training are key to healthier outcomes.”
Anti-UPF hype masking screen time plague
This balanced approach to obesity treatment is essential to avoid repeating the US model, where use of anti-obesity drugs has surged to 1 in 8 Americans and where recent modest declines in obesity could easily prove temporary without deeper structural measures to support healthier lifestyles. Indeed, while US adult obesity has dipped, the rate among adolescents has risen to 16% over the past decade. Meanwhile, in Europe, 30% of children are either overweight or obese, underscoring the long-term risk of ineffective public health policies.
Yet in both the US and Europe, policymakers still too often gravitate towards easy scapegoats such as UPFs, reinforcing the simplistic, sensationalist narratives flourishing on social media. This broadbrush UPF bashing is especially unhelpful given the lack of scientific consensus around the category itself, as well as the fact that processed foods can be both nutritious and beneficial. Indeed, UPFs like wholemeal bread, wholegrain cereals and protein powders all offer strong nutritional value, frozen fruit and vegetables retain much of their vitamin C, and iron and B vitamins can be preserved or added back if lost during processing.
Concerningly, this quick-fix instinct against UPFs is inhibiting the harder work needed to address the root causes of obesity, not least rising screen time and the sedentary lifestyles that come with it. According to WHO Europe, over 40% of children spend at least two hours a day on screens during weekdays, and nearly 80% do so on weekends, with social media platforms increasingly holding their attention through infinite scroll, relentless push notifications and tailored feeds. In recent years, this surge in screen time has steadily displaced the spontaneous physical activity that once played a vital role in young people’s daily energy balance.
That energy balance lies at the heart of the obesity challenge: the misplaced fixation on UPFs has led policymakers and consumers alike to forget that health depends not only on what the body takes in, but also on the calories it burns through movement and exercise. The scientific evidence is increasingly hard to ignore: heavier screen use is consistently linked not only to higher obesity risk and lower levels of exercise, but also to anxiety, depression and disrupted sleep – which itself can fuel weight gain.
Addressing obesity epidemic’s root causes
However, the answer to excessive screen time is not bans or warning labels, just as the answer to UPFs is not a barrage of new labelling and detection schemes or misguided government attempts to pin down a definition for this notoriously vague, scientifically dubious category. Rather than relying on quick fixes or scare tactics that make people feel healthy without meaningfully changing behaviour, businesses and policymakers should offer citizens an inspiring vision and the tools to lead healthier lives.
In a promising development, Leiths Education, founded by British celebrity chef Prue Leith, is launching a free school programme across the UK that brings cooking lessons into the classroom, giving pupils a practical introduction to nutrition. Efforts like this help make healthy living concrete and accessible from an early age, and must go hand in hand with greater public investment in physical activity, so that young people in every community have real opportunities to play sport, exercise and move more.
Indeed, obesity will not be reversed through the mass availability of semaglutide-based drugs alone, still less through social media myths and easy answers that have already clouded the debate. Moving forward, we must treat the obesity drug boom not as a moment for complacency, but for ambitious and holistic anti-obesity strategies that match the scale and complexity of the crisis.
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