What connects Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Winslet and Kim Kardashian? The answer is Ozempic, and now Indian healthtech startups are entering the Ozempic and Mounjaro era.

The diabetes drug, which has quickly gained market share for its effectiveness in weight loss, is becoming a key part of healthtech stacks in India — with Bengaluru-based Healthify becoming the first player to formally introduce GLP-1 drugs for medically-assisted weight loss.

The startup, which raised $20 Mn late last year, has launched HealthifyRx, a companion programme built around the anti-obesity medication and is likely to launch it in the US as well as in India.

For those who have missed the Ozempic and Mounjaro mania, these are classes of drugs used to treat diabetes, and gained attention in the US as a relatively easier means of shedding weight in a short span.

Ozempic and Mounjaro are the marketing names for semaglutide and tirzepatide, which help in treating diabetes by targetting the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone.

The hormone controls blood sugar and appetite, and naturally, this has fuelled Ozempic’s rise in particular over the past five years. Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs essentially stimulate insulin secretion and inhibit glucagon secretion, which together help lower blood sugar and slow down gastric emptying. As a bonus, it also suppresses appetite, which is the primary reason why the drugs are advertised as weight loss drugs.

Ozempic is marketed by pharma giant Novo Nordisk, while its rival company, Eli Lilly, markets Mounjaro, a tirzepatide injection. Thus far, only the more affluent Indians had access to these drugs and many Indians are said to have visited care centres in the US and other countries to get the treatment.

But with the patent window on these drugs now expiring, they are ready to take the Indian market by storm.

India’s anti-obesity drugs market is on course to reach $100 Bn by 2030, according to a Goldman Sachs estimate. A Lancet study projected that an estimated 218 Mn men and 232 Mn women will be overweight or obese in India by 2050. This is a major market by any metric for drug makers and healthtech startups.

Diabetes management platforms were some of the first solutions to emerge from the healthtech space, and now with Ozempic, they have received a major shot in the arm.

Besides healthtech startups, Indian drug makers such as Sun Pharma, Cipla, Dr Reddy’s, and Mankind Pharma will begin to manufacture these drugs at home by mid-2026, according to

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