Scientists of the Center for Synthetic Biotechnology of the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University have developed a new biotechnology that makes it possible to obtain a pharmaceutical substance for creating drugs based on GLP-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide. The new technology reduces the production time of a substance based on a genetically modified strain of E. coli, the university’s press service told TASS.
Currently, most of the new class diabetes and obesity drugs available on the Russian market are made from pharmaceutical substances imported from China. The development of Russian scientists will make it possible to localize the full production cycle of modern medicines for the treatment of diabetes in Russia.
According to Vasily Stepanenko, head of the Center for Synthetic Biotechnology at Sechenov University, the new technology reduces the production time of a substance based on a genetically modified strain of E. coli and significantly simplifies the transfer of the technological process to production sites.
The analytical firm DSM Group reported that commercial sales of Ozempic analogues in Russia more than tripled in 2024, rising to 8.8 billion rubles. The government procurement, primarily benefiting Russian companies Geropharm and Promomed, contributed 1.7 billion rubles to this figure. driven largely by the widespread cases of obesity among the population.
As Big Pharma stopped marketing these type of products in Russia in 2022-2023, domestic companies were interested in the production of versions of Ozempic-like drugs. While experts predict a decrease in organic growth in the future due to market saturation, manufacturers continue to develop new weight loss products.
