By Andrew Silver
SHANGHAI, June 29 (Reuters) – GLP-1 drugs from Pfizer and Innovent Biologics have passed a preliminary review to be potentially included in China’s basic medical insurance drug catalogue, a list published by the National Healthcare Security Administration showed on Monday.
Pfizer’s ecnoglutide and Innovent’s mazdutide, approved in China as treatments for weight management and type II diabetes, belong to the class of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs already included in China’s state insurance list from drugmakers such as Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Guangzhou Innogen Pharmaceutical Group.
Innovent shares were up about 7% after the announcement.
Novo’s Ozempic was first added to China’s reimbursement list in 2022, followed by Lilly’s Mounjaro and Innogen’s efsubaglutide alfa from this year for patients with type II diabetes. Inclusion in the national reimbursement list makes drugs more widely available to the public in a country with a population of 1.4 billion, though an increase in sales volume is often mitigated by lower prices.
Sales of Ozempic injector pens in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong — Novo’s largest market after the U.S. — slipped 7% to about 5.4 billion Danish crowns ($853 million) in 2025.
Sales of GLP-1 treatments in China through major e-commerce platforms Alibaba and JD.com totalled about 1.4 billion yuan ($207 million) in the first quarter of 2026, according to Jefferies.
A spokesperson for Pfizer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for Innovent told Reuters that in terms of medical insurance coverage in China only treatment for diabetes could be considered.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver; Additional reporting by Ethan Wang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Tom Hogue and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
