A newly-formed Canadian pharmaceutical company is vying to break into the market with a generic version of one of the most well-known prescription drugs in the world: Ozempic.
“You could say we’re betting everything on this one drug,” said David Suchon, co-founder of Toronto-based Vimy Pharma.
The company’s endeavour highlights domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities at a time of geopolitical uncertainties and tariff turmoil.
The data protection on semaglutide, the active ingredient in weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, expired in January, according to Health Canada. That has opened the door for generics, which are cheaper than brand-name drugs, to enter the market.
With a surge in Canadian patriotism due to a tariff roller-coaster with the United States, Vimy Pharma, founded in 2024, is hoping to lean into patriotic sentiments by producing an economically-priced drug for Canadians on Canadian soil.
“I think there has been a groundswell of interest and support from across the country to support local brands and local companies,” said fellow Vimy Pharma co-founder Farris Smith, who along with Suchon, is a former executive of Novo Nordisk, the Danish company behind Ozempic.
Ozempic is approved in Canada for diabetes and to slow kidney decline but is also widely used for weight loss.
Suchon said he believes there is market potential in Canada for a company like Vimy Pharma, pointing to how roughly one-third of the population lives with obesity.
“There was an opportunity … to do more to provide them with medicine at an even lower price,” he said, noting that the class of drugs was recently deemed an essential medicine by the World Health Organization.
Vimy Pharma expects to file its application for generic semaglutide to Health Canada in the coming weeks.
Eight other applications are under review by the federal department.
“Health Canada cannot provide timelines for decisions, nor can we speculate on potential warnings or indications, while reviews are ongoing,” spokesperson André Gagnon wrote in an email to CBC News.
Under a previous policy, submissions accepted into review by the department before April 1, 2024, were not disclosed online to include company names. Of the filings currently under review with companies attached, none are owned or headquartered in Canada.
If approved, the drug would be mass-produced at a new critical medicines production centre in Edmonton run by non-profit Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation (API), which works with and provides contract services to the life sciences sector.
The facility, backed by federal and provincial funding, was announced in 2023 on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Having a product that is so broadly recognized — especially by a Canadian company — as our first commercial project is really exciting,” API CEO Andrew MacIsaac said in an interview.
The organization brought in specialized equipment from Italy in preparation for generic semaglutide manufacturing, but MacIsaac said it will also be used to produce other medicines.
According to MacIsaac, there could be approximately 30 direct jobs involved in the launch of Vimy Pharma’s generic drug, if approved, with the opportunity to add more roles if there is a need to ramp up capacity.
The pandemic brought to light vulnerabilities with global supply chains, including in the pharmaceutical sector.
MacIsaac emphasized that manufacturing more drugs within Canada’s borders keeps Canadians safe and healthy.
“I think it’s always important to have resiliency, especially with medications, because if you don’t have them, it can kill people,” he said.
Most drugs in Canada are made outside the country’s borders, and while there is some drug manufacturing capability in Canada, more is better, said Aidan Hollis, an economics professor and pharmaceutical markets expert at the University of Calgary.
He added that the situation is even more acute considering the fluctuating state of international affairs.
“We don’t know whether there’ll be more tariffs or what kind of obstacles we may face,” Hollis said. “Maybe there’ll be another pandemic, who knows?
“Having domestic capacity to produce pharmaceuticals is something that’s really valuable for any advanced country, and certainly one the size of Canada.”
According to IQVIA Canada, which gathers prescription sales data, the total 2025 sales for semaglutide, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, in Canada was approximately $3.5 billion.
“It is a significant amount of money that’s flowing outside the country right now,” Hollis said.
Michael Law, a pharmaceutical policy expert at the University of Calgary, agrees.
“If a company like Vimy is able to ramp up production and become a maker-producer, sell across Canada and then even potentially export to other places, then that could be a really big deal for the economy,” he said, while also acknowledging that there will be fierce competition from other companies pursuing generic semaglutide.
Law said, with domestic drug manufacturing, Canadians are the ones who ultimately benefit from availability.
“If the Canadian manufacturer is making drugs for the Canadian market, we can be sure, or at least confident, that those drugs will be marketed and sold in Canada,” he said.
However, Hollis acknowledged that a Canadian-made generic semaglutide may matter little to users.
“I’ve never heard of a patient going into a pharmacy and saying they want the Canadian version,” he said.
“Pharmacies are just going to stock whichever one is cheapest and most profitable for them.”
