Belviq Generic: When Will Generic Lorcaserin Be Available?

Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS

This page is aggregated from FDA records, court filings and company announcements. Coded and designed by

Updated October 9, 2026 How we build our data

Belviq Generic at a Glance

Four quick answers from FDA records and our estimate.

  1. When is the first generic expected? TBD no date yet What opens the door is not settled yet
  2. Has the FDA approved a generic? Unknown No FDA Orange Book record under this name
  3. When does the brand’s protection end? Unknown Not in the FDA record we could read
  4. Can you buy a generic today? Not yet No company lists one for sale

Explains

PharmD, BCPS · Clinical pharmacist Updated

There is no expected month yet for generic lorcaserin hydrochloride. None is for sale yet.

Will the generic cost less?

Usually, and more so as more companies sell one. 3 companies have applied to the FDA to make it. In the FDA’s study of past launches, pharmacies paid about 44% less once two companies sold a generic. See the price pattern

What should I do now?

Keep taking Belviq as prescribed. When a generic arrives, your pharmacy may switch you to it automatically, and it may look different. What a generic means for you

Our month is only an estimate based on available information, so we never name a day.

Belviq by the Numbers

Reason
Not yet clear3 generic makers have filed applications with FDA. What opens the door, a ruling, a deal or an expiry, is not settled yet.
How sure
Not rated Too early to rate.
Price competition
Moderate 3 companies have filed, 3 first in line
Brand sales
Sales not reported

Patent Challenges to Belviq

The first patent challenge to Belviq reached the FDA in June 2016, from 4 companies on that first day. The FDA has not approved a first challenger’s generic yet.

What Is a Patent Challenge?

A generic company that wants to sell its version before Belviq’s patents run out can tell the FDA that a patent is invalid, or that its version does not infringe it. The FDA calls this a “Paragraph IV certification.” The brand company usually sues, and the FDA then generally cannot approve that generic for up to 30 months while the case runs. To reward going first, the companies that challenge first can get a 180-day head start: the FDA cannot approve the generics that came after them until it ends.

Patent challenges on the FDA’s list (1)
ProductFirst challengedCompanies that day180-day head startFirst challenger’s genericChallenged patents run to
ApprovedOn sale
Tablets, 10 mg June 2016 4 companies Head start no longer applies decided May 2020 Not yet Not yet February 2033

Source: the FDA’s Paragraph IV Patent Certifications list, as of September 2026. The FDA began posting the 180-day decisions and the first challenger’s approval and first sale in June 2019: an older entry it has not updated since reads “Not posted”, and “Not yet” means the list records no such event. “Companies that day” is the FDA’s count of challenges that arrived on the first day.

Who Is Lined Up to Make Generic Lorcaserin Hydrochloride

Three steps stand between a brand and a generic you can buy: a company applies to the FDA, the FDA approves it, and the company starts selling it.

1

Applied to the FDA

3 companies have applied to the FDA to make generic lorcaserin hydrochloride.

The FDA keeps applications private until it approves them, so the companies are not named here. Names often come out in the brand company’s patent lawsuits or in the companies’ own announcements.

First in line. 3 of them were first in line, all filing on the first day any company did: they can share 180 days on the market before the other generics, which is why being first matters.

Generic companies have challenged Belviq’s patents with the FDA since June 2016: see the patent challenges.

2

Approved by the FDA

We could not find Belviq’s own record in the FDA Orange Book under this name, so the approved generic makers are not shown.

3

For Sale in Pharmacies

Not yet. No company lists a generic lorcaserin hydrochloride for sale with the FDA.

Sources: how many companies have applied, from court records and company announcements; approved generics from the FDA Orange Book; what is for sale from the FDA NDC Directory. The FDA does not disclose an application before it approves it (21 CFR 314.430).

Belviq Price: What Pharmacies Pay and What Generics Usually Do

What a Generic Could Cost

How we estimate it. The national survey of what pharmacies pay (NADAC) has no recent price for Belviq, so we cannot show dollars. Here is the FDA’s finding of how far the price pharmacies pay usually falls as generic companies join: about 31% with one company, 44% with two, 73% with four and over 95% with six or more (the typical drop for every drug whose first generic came out from 2015 to 2017).

Median prices pharmacies paid for the generic (invoice prices), compared with the brand’s price before generic entry, from FDA’s 2019 analysis “Generic Competition and Drug Prices”. At the manufacturer’s price FDA found steeper drops (about 39%, 54%, 79% and over 95%), the figures quoted elsewhere on this tracker. A typical pattern, not a price quote for this medicine.

What a Generic Belviq Means for You

Nothing Changes Until It Is in Pharmacies

Until a generic is actually for sale, keep filling Belviq as usual. When one arrives, there is nothing you need to sign up for.

Your Pharmacy May Switch You Automatically

Every state lets pharmacists fill a brand-name prescription with an FDA-approved generic rated as equivalent to it, and about 19 states require them to, unless your prescriber writes “dispense as written” or “brand medically necessary” on the prescription. Some states ask the pharmacist to tell you, or to get your OK first. A study of every state’s law has the details.

It Will Probably Look Different

US trademark law does not let a generic look exactly like the brand, so the color, shape or markings usually change. The active ingredient, strength and form are the same. An “authorized generic,” made by or for the brand’s own company, can look identical. The FDA explains.

Your Insurance May Change Too

Once a lower-cost version is available, many insurance plans charge more for the brand, or stop covering it. Your plan’s drug list (formulary) says how.

Until a generic is on US pharmacy shelves, be careful with websites that offer “generic Belviq”. The FDA warns that unlicensed online pharmacies sell counterfeit and unapproved medicines; its BeSafeRx page shows how to check a pharmacy.

Ask a pharmacist about Belviq

Questions people ask about Belviq

Is there a generic for Belviq right now?

No. As of October 9, 2026 no generic lorcaserin hydrochloride is listed for sale in the FDA NDC Directory.

When will Belviq go generic?

There is no expected month yet. 3 generic makers have filed applications with FDA. What opens the door, a ruling, a deal or an expiry, is not settled yet.

Will generic lorcaserin hydrochloride be the same as Belviq?

Yes in the ways that matter: the same active ingredient, strength and form, with proof that it reaches your blood the same way. Inactive ingredients can differ, which is why some people notice a different look or taste.

How much will the generic cost?

Nobody can say for sure before launch. 3 companies have applied to the FDA to make it. In the FDA’s study of past launches, pharmacies paid about 44% less once two companies sold a generic. That is a pattern from past launches, not a prediction for this one.

Has anyone challenged the Belviq patents?

Yes. The first patent challenge to Belviq reached the FDA in June 2016, from 4 companies on that first day. The FDA has not approved a first challenger’s generic yet. A patent challenge (a “Paragraph IV certification”) is a generic company telling the FDA that a patent listed for the brand is invalid or will not be infringed by its version. The first companies to file one can earn a 180-day head start, during which the FDA cannot approve the generics that filed after them.

Changes to This Projection

  • First generic expected a date that is not known yet on this month’s schedule. A line is added here whenever a monthly update moves the month, the reason or how sure it is.

Every change to the expected month is logged here with the month we saw it.

Also Going Generic

All upcoming generics

About Belviq

Sources. The expected month: FDA Paragraph IV Patent Certifications list, federal court records, company announcements and securities filings (settlement dates, launch plans, sales). The record on this page: FDA Orange Book, FDA NDC Directory, FDA Paragraph IV Patent Certifications list, FDA, Generic Competition and Drug Prices (2019). Updated October 9, 2026. Information, not medical advice.