On 10 September 2024, Swedish CDMO, Iconovo, announced that it has commenced developing an intranasally inhaled form of semaglutide for treatment of obesity. The product will reportedly use an improved form of Iconovo’s existing intranasal inhaler “ICOone Nasal®”.
Iconovo plans to develop the semaglutide inhaler to the preclinical proof-of-concept stage and then seek licensing opportunities for its clinical development. Iconovo says that it will not launch the product commercially until after expiry of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide patents.
This follows reports of Sandoz’s planned 2026 generic semaglutide, Biocon/Biomm’s deal regarding generic Ozempic® (semaglutide) in Brazil, and the acceptance of Hangzhou Jiuyan Gene Engineering’s application for generic Ozempic® (semaglutide) in China.