How Makreo Decoded India's Weight-Loss Drug Adoption

Client Overview

An international pharmaceutical company approached Makreo Research to understand what is genuinely driving adoption of next-generation weight-loss therapies in India, and how consumer behaviour around these treatments differs across cities. The client wanted to move past clinical trial data and understand real-world uptake: who was adopting these therapies, what was influencing their decisions, and where the biggest barriers to wider adoption sat.

Objective of the Study

Adoption Driver Mapping: Identify the real factors shaping patient uptake of next-generation weight-loss therapies, beyond clinical efficacy alone.
City-Wise Behaviour Analysis: Understand how consumer attitudes, affordability thresholds, and treatment-seeking behaviour differ across urban centres.
Pharmacy & Prescription Intelligence: Track how these therapies move through the retail pharmacy channel, and how physicians are prescribing them.
Format Preference Assessment: Evaluate patient attitudes toward injectable therapies compared to alternative delivery formats.
Competitive Benchmarking: Assess how leading branded therapies are positioned and perceived relative to each other in the market.

Methodology

Structured consumer survey across 3,000 respondents
Pharmacy-level intelligence gathering across 300 pharmacies spanning 6 cities: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad
Competitive benchmarking of leading branded therapies, including Ozempic
Physician-prescribing pattern review through pharmacy and consumer touchpoints

Assessment Areas

Affordability and price sensitivity
Product availability and supply consistency
Physician confidence and prescribing behaviour
Patient perception and treatment expectations
City-wise variation in adoption
Format preference (injectable vs. alternative delivery)

Solutions Delivered & Impact

Makreo Research delivered an integrated framework combining consumer research, pharmacy intelligence, and competitive benchmarking to map real-world adoption of next-generation weight-loss therapies in India.

Market and Demand Intelligence

The consumer survey of 3,000 respondents showed that adoption of therapies such as Ozempic is being shaped by far more than clinical outcomes. Affordability, consistent availability, physician confidence, and patient perception emerged as the primary levers, giving the client a clearer view of where demand is genuinely forming versus where it's held back.

Pharmacy-Level Market Validation

Intelligence gathered across 300 pharmacies in six cities, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, gave the study a retail-level view of real demand, including which therapies were moving fastest, how consistently stock was available, and where patients were asking questions before committing to treatment. This grounded the consumer-side findings in what was actually happening at the point of purchase, across a mix of metro and non-metro markets.

Physician and Prescriber Confidence

Prescribing behaviour emerged as a key gating factor. Physician adoption has been driven by specialists prescribing these drugs based on strong global clinical evidence, but the extent of that confidence, and how it translates into patient recommendations, varied meaningfully depending on city and practice type, directly affecting how quickly patients move from awareness to treatment.

Format Preference: Injectable vs. Oral Adoption

India's weight-loss drug market has so far been built almost entirely on injectable GLP-1 therapies. Public market data suggests oral formats could unlock adoption among an estimated 10 to 15 percent of patients who currently resist injections entirely, a meaningful cohort given the size of India's overweight and obese population. This confirmed that format, not just price or efficacy, is an independent adoption barrier the client needs to plan around as oral options enter the market.

Affordability and Access Dynamics

The market is entering a period of rapid price correction. Following the March 2026 patent expiry of semaglutide, generic versions are expected to bring monthly treatment costs down to roughly ₹3,000 to ₹4,000, around 60 to 70 percent lower than current branded pricing. This directly reshapes the affordability threshold the client should plan pricing and access strategy around.

Growth and Opportunity Mapping

Competitive benchmarking showed strong underlying demand across recent branded launches. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) quickly became one of India's top-selling drugs by value after its 2025 launch, while the broader injectable GLP-1 segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 18.1 percent going forward. This gave the client a clear read on where category momentum sits and how quickly competitive positioning needs to be locked in.

Conclusion

The study gave the client a ground-level understanding of how India's next-generation weight-loss therapy market actually behaves, beyond headline market-size figures. By combining consumer sentiment, pharmacy-level realities, physician confidence, and city-wise variation, Makreo Research converted a fast-moving, high-hype category into a structured, decision-ready view of where and how adoption is really happening, and where the client's biggest near-term opportunities and risks lie.

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