Bernie Sanders Urges Ozempic Maker Novo Nordisk to Be Fair Over ‘Outrageously Expensive’ U.S. Drug Prices.

As its profits soar amid ongoing struggles to meet booming demand for the revolutionary drugs, Bernie Sanders has taken his fight to lower “outrageously high” drug prices in the United States directly to Novo Nordisk, Denmark’s most valuable company, urging it to slash prices on popular weight loss and diabetes treatments.

Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., urged the Danish public to exert pressure on the nation’s largest company to lower costs for Ozempic and Wegovy in the US and other countries, in an editorial that was published in the Danish daily Politiken on Monday.

In order to “help the American people do something about the obesity and diabetes epidemic we are facing,” Sanders, the Senate committee head on health, education, labour, and pensions, said he admires Denmark’s welfare and health systems.

He noted that while Novo’s Ozempic and Wegovy, which are approved for the treatment of diabetes and weight reduction, respectively, and both include semaglutide, have the potential to alter people’s lives globally, they cannot help the millions of people who cannot afford them.

Sanders asserted that Novo charges around ten times as much for Ozempic in the United States as it does abroad, pointing out that the drug is accessible for a fraction of the price in Denmark and other European nations.

Sanders stated that the only explanation for the disparity is greed and that it contradicts Novo’s professed moral principles, social responsibility assertions, and the fact that a charity foundation, not a billionaire or Wall Street investor, is the company’s largest stakeholder.

This is not the first time Sanders has focused on the issue of excessive prices in America or attacked Novo over the costs of its well-known diabetic and weight-loss medications. Sanders demanded in March that the business lower its rates to match what Canadians pay, claiming that Ozempic’s out-of-pocket expenses were less than one-third of those incurred in the United States. The American people, Medicare, and our entire health care system might all be financially destroyed, he said, if U.S. costs continued to rise.

As the head of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Sanders posed a series of questions to Novo in April, requesting them to provide justification for the costs and manufacturing of their drugs. He also announced that the panel was conducting an investigation into the “outrageously high prices.” The remarkable triumph of GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy has swiftly propelled Novo from a formidable participant in the pharmaceutical industry to the highest levels of the most extensive worldwide enterprises.

Its market capitalization of well under $600 billion now is far higher than the GDP of its home nation, which makes it an uncommon trait among international corporations. Its previous market capitalizations were about $375 billion, $257 billion in 2022, and $171 billion in 2021.Karsten Munk Knudsen, chief financial officer of Novo Nordisk, stated in a speech earlier in 2024 that “too much of the conversation focuses around costs and too little on the value.” Company officials have also claimed that Ozempic pricing in the United States have decreased by 40% since 2018, according to the Telegraph. Knudsen cited semaglutide’s capacity to control blood sugar, lose weight, and lower the risk of cardiovascular disease all significant health issues mentioned on the labels of Wegovy and Ozempic.

Chairman Sanders Launches Investigation into Outrageously High Price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States

The CEO of Novo Nordisk received a letter from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today initiating an investigation into the exorbitant prices his pharmaceutical company is charging for Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States.

Chairman Sanders stated in his letter, “These drugs have the potential to be a game changer for millions of Americans who are struggling with type 2 diabetes and obesity. The scientists at Novo Nordisk deserve great credit for developing them.” Despite their importance, millions of people who cannot afford these medications will not benefit from them.

Furthermore, these products have the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our whole health care system if their prices are not significantly lowered. The federal government and the US Congress cannot let it to occur.

Currently, Ozempic costs $969 per month for Americans with type 2 diabetes from Novo Nordisk, yet the exact identical medication is just $155 in Canada and $59 in Germany. Additionally, Novo Nordisk charges obesity-stricken Americans $1,349 per month for Wegovy, a medicine that costs just $140 in Germany and $92 in the UK.

The rates charged by Novo Nordisk are particularly exorbitant considering a recent study conducted by Yale University researchers which revealed that each of these medications may be produced profitably for less than $5 annually

Chairman Sanders stated, “It is my opinion that the American people should not be forced to pay up to $1,349 a month for prescription drugs that can be purchased for a fraction of this price in other developed countries and cost less than $5 to manufacture.”

Sanders went on, “Millions of Americans who need Ozempic and Wegovy are out of reach because of these absurdly high prices.” Regretfully, Novo Nordisk’s price has elevated medications that may enhance people’s life to luxury items, despite the companies over $12 billion in revenues last year, a 76 percent increase from 2021. That is not appropriate.

Because these medications are so expensive in the US, everyone will probably have to pay more in taxes and insurance premiums as a result of Novo Nordisk’s profit-maximizing strategy, even if they don’t take the goods.

Chairman Sanders was informed by a large commercial health insurance company that providing coverage for Wegovy and Ozempic to all qualified patients would require the firm to quadruple premiums for all policy holders.

Plans for public health insurance are experiencing comparable issues. After calculating that continuing to cover Wegovy at its present price would force them to double the rates for all of its policy holders, regardless of whether they were using the prescription, the North Carolina State Health Plan decided to cease covering the drug for weight reduction.

Medicare and Medicaid funds are already under pressure due to the unjustifiably high costs of Ozempic and Wegovy, which also significantly restrict access for people who require these medications.

Researchers from the University of Chicago and Vanderbilt Universities calculated last year that Medicare would have to pay more than $150 billion annually to cover Wegovy and other comparable weight-loss medications. In contrast, the total cost of Medicare-covered retail prescription medication costs in 2022 was less than $130 billion. Furthermore, owing of the unreasonably high costs of these medications, dozens of states have severely restricted access to Ozempic coverage, and more than 35 state Medicaid programs do not cover Wegovy at all.

Chairman Sanders asked Novo Nordisk’s CEO to respond to a straightforward query in his letter: “Will Novo Nordisk substantially reduce both the list price and the net price of both Ozempic and Wegovy?”

In the letter, Chairman Sanders also asks for details about the company’s internal decision-making process, as well as the revenue generated by selling the product to government agencies and commercial insurers. The letter also asks the business to reply to inquiries about its research and development costs for these medications as well as how pricing is set.

Outrageously’ expensive Ozempic should be cheaper, says Bernie Sanders.

Maker of Ozempic and Wegovy Bernie Sanders has stated that Novo Nordisk should be compelled to lower the cost of its miracle medications for diabetes and obesity since the present prices are “outrageously high.”

In an editorial published in the Danish daily Politiken, the US senator implores readers to exert pressure on Novo Nordisk, the largest company in the country.

The former Democratic presidential candidate claimed that Novo “does not live up to its high moral ideals” since its obesity-related lawsuits are significantly more expensive in the US than they are outside.

According to Mr. Sanders, Novo charges almost ten times as much for Ozempic in the US than it does in certain European nations.

In Denmark, the monthly cost of the therapy was $188 (£150), but early this month, it was lowered to $125. According to Mr. Sanders, an American must pay $6,700 a month for this treatment.

“Help the American people do something about the obesity and diabetes epidemic we are facing,” urged Mr. Sanders in his letter.

Although Ozempic is given off-label for weight loss, it is a medication for diabetes. Novo also makes Wegovy, a product that is intended to help with weight loss.

These medications are a member of a recently developed class of highly successful appetite suppressant therapies. Up to 25% of a patient’s body weight can be lost by using these procedures.

CEOs of Novo Nordisk have stated that Ozempic costs have decreased by about 40% in the US since 2018. “Too much of the conversation focuses around costs and too little on the value… in reduction of blood glucose, weight and cardiovascular risk reduction,” chief financial officer Karsten Munk Knudsen stated in a speech earlier this year.

It occurs in the midst of mounting worries about the rapidly rising costs of these novel diabetes and weight-loss vaccines, which have been demonstrated to provide a number of health advantages.

Healthcare systems throughout the world, including those in Europe, have been pressuring doctors to switch patients from Novo Nordisk medicines to less expensive ones.

Earlier last month, Denmark imposed new regulations on Ozempic prescriptions, cutting subsidies so that those with Type 2 diabetes would have to try less expensive options first.