{"id":1447558,"date":"2026-03-17T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/?p=1447558"},"modified":"2026-03-16T19:45:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:45:02","slug":"generic-semaglutide-india-bmi-obesity-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/03\/17\/generic-semaglutide-india-bmi-obesity-definition\/","title":{"rendered":"Semaglutide is going off-patent in India. But will people who need it be able to get it?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>She is 53, \u201cnormal\u201d weight, and has already had a heart attack. A drug proven to prevent the next one becomes affordable in her country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But she can\u2019t access it because of a line drawn for someone else, on another continent. A billion people are about to fall on the wrong side of it.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/03\/17\/generic-semaglutide-india-bmi-obesity-definition\/?utm_campaign=api\">Read the rest\u2026<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rules determining who gets access to semaglutide in India were written for different bodies with different cardiovascular risks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":784,"featured_media":1447970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"stat_display_restriction_not_latest":false,"stat_featured_image_caption":"","stat_featured_image_nocrop":false,"stat_featured_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.5},"stat_article_wordmark_img":[],"stat_article_wordmark_url":"","stat_article_wordmark_height":"125px","stat_article_wordmark_enable":false,"stat_article_subheadline":"Access may depend on BMI. That\u2019s the wrong metric to use in India","stat_paywall_restrict":false,"footnotes":"","stat_article_enhanced_byline":"Kantipuly is a preventive medicine and public health resident at McGill University and visiting scholar at the University of New Mexico. Singer is VK Rajah visiting professor of medical ethics at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics, National University of Singapore, and Ira W. DeCamp professor of bioethics, emeritus, Princeton University. ","stat_article_newsletter_id":"first_opinion","stat_article_header_color_scheme":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":43,"stat_paywall_move_flag":0},"categories":[43,5318],"tags":[5091,837,372,2251,573],"authors":[211019,211009],"class_list":["post-1447558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-opinion","category-pharma","tag-drug-pricing","tag-global-health","tag-obesity","tag-pharmaceuticals","tag-weight-loss"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2166362674-1024x683.jpg","coauthors":[{"avatar":"","display_name":"Aditi Kantipuly","author_page":"","first_name":"","title":"","bio":"","email_address":"","email_url":"","twitter_url":"","twitter_handle":"","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/aditi-kantipuly\/","web_url":"","bluesky_url":"","bluesky_handle":""},{"avatar":"","display_name":"Peter Singer","author_page":"","first_name":"","title":"","bio":"","email_address":"","email_url":"","twitter_url":"","twitter_handle":"","facebook_url":"","linkedin_url":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/petersinger\/","web_url":"","bluesky_url":"","bluesky_handle":""}],"stat_card_curation":{"image_id":1447970,"title":"","excerpt":"","video_id":0,"disable_topic_image_curation":false},"template_inline_styles":{"global_styles":":root{--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--square: 1;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--4-3: 4\/3;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--3-4: 3\/4;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--3-2: 3\/2;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--2-3: 2\/3;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--16-9: 16\/9;--wp--preset--aspect-ratio--9-16: 9\/16;--wp--preset--color--black: #000000;--wp--preset--color--cyan-bluish-gray: #abb8c3;--wp--preset--color--white: #FFFFFF;--wp--preset--color--pale-pink: #f78da7;--wp--preset--color--vivid-red: #cf2e2e;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-orange: #ff6900;--wp--preset--color--luminous-vivid-amber: 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