Can India’s Healthtech Startups Build On the GLP-1 Buzz?

For 38-year-old P, a Mumbai-based investment professional, the scale had ceased to budge. With a demanding job, a young child, and an autoimmune thyroid condition, traditional weight-loss methods seemed futile. 

“After my pregnancy, I was diagnosed with borderline Hashimoto’s, which makes weight loss quite challenging,” she says. “And with a young child and a hectic job, I just didn’t have the bandwidth to commit to traditional methods.”

Last year, on a friend’s recommendation, she turned to Elevate Now—a Delhi-based healthtech startup offering GLP-1-based weight-loss programmes. P started with Rybelsus, an oral GLP-1 drug. “The results were okay. I lost some weight, but because of my autoimmune condition, my body inherently resists weight loss,” she says. 

“I told my coach I needed something stronger. There was a function coming up, and I wanted to address inflammation, gut issues, and lose some good weight,” she recalls. Her coach suggested Mounjaro (tirzepatide), which had just launched in India in March.