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On December 31, 2025, The Supreme People's Court upheld the Beijing IP Court's decision, meaning that the semaglutide patent remains valid and will expire on March 20, 2026. Novo Nordisk announced this positive news via a press release on the day the case was decided. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has also confirmed this decision on their website.
This case is certainly positive news for those in the biopharmaceutical industry thinking of developing their drugs in China. Additionally, if you've been following this case, you'll know that the validity of the patent came down to whether the Court would accept post-filing data demonstrating semaglutide's surprising pharmacokinetic effects in animal models. After all, there was no experimental data in the original application as filed (which is why the CNIPA originally rejected the case).
This high-profile case further demonstrates China's willingness to consider post-filing data, provided that the data are submitted under China's stricter post-filing data requirements. In this case, the specification provided sufficient "proof" that the ideas of the surprising technical effects were already established in the original application as filed, even if the data were not present.
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