By Andrew Silver

SHANGHAI, July 9 (Reuters) - China will add a second GLP-1 drug, used to treat diabetes, to a list of essential ‌drugs all public hospitals are required to prioritise having in their ‌formulary, a government statement said on Thursday.

China, the world's second-biggest pharmaceutical market, has the highest number ​of adults with diabetes in the world, according to estimates from the International Diabetes Federation.

Justin Wang, a partner at global strategy consultancy L.E.K. Consulting in Shanghai, told Reuters the essential listing would mean the drug, semaglutide, should be available ‌even in remote rural ⁠hospitals.

So far only the Ozempic brand version has approval, but Wang said the inclusion of semaglutide in the National Essential ⁠Drug List would also "pave the way for generics to be broadly listed" once they are approved in China.

"We can expect semaglutide and other newly added NEDL drugs ​to ​become much more accessible across the country," ​he said, adding that it ‌was the second GLP-1 to be listed after liraglutide, an older medication.

The injectable semaglutide will be included on China's national essential drug list, effective from September 1, under the insulin and blood glucose-lowering medication category, Thursday's government statement said.

It did not mention obesity, which can also be treated by some ‌GLP-1 drugs.

Sales of Ozempic GLP-1 injector pens ​in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong – Novo ​Nordisk's largest market after the ​U.S. – slipped 7% to about 5.4 billion Danish crowns ($853 million) ‌in 2025.

Novo Nordisk did not immediately ​respond to a ​request for comment on whether it expected a significant increase in revenue for that drug in China due to the listing.

The patent on ​the active ingredient semaglutide ‌expired in China in March, though the company has regulatory data ​protection until early next year.

(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Editing ​by Christian Schmollinger and Barbara Lewis)