Novo Nordisk CEO to testify at Senate listening to over excessive weight reduction drug costs

Novo Nordisk‘s high govt is slated to face a Senate grilling on Tuesday over the excessive costs of the corporate’s weight reduction drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, as demand for each injections soars in the U.S. 

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will testify at a Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. It comes roughly 5 months after Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont impartial who chairs the Senate panel, opened an investigation into the Danish drugmaker’s pricing practices. 

Sanders contends that Novo Nordisk costs People considerably greater costs for its blockbuster medicine than it does for sufferers in different international locations. Earlier than insurance coverage, Ozempic prices almost $969 per month and Wegovy prices virtually $1,350 per month within the U.S. 

In the meantime, each therapies can price as little as underneath $100 for a month’s provide in some European international locations, in keeping with a launch from the committee. Ozempic prices simply $59 in Germany, whereas Wegovy prices $92 within the U.Okay.

Sanders additionally mentioned final week that the CEOs of main generic pharmaceutical corporations have informed him that they may promote a model of Ozempic for less than $100 a month at a revenue. There are presently no generic alternate options to Ozempic obtainable within the U.S. 

Sanders and different lawmakers, health experts and insurers have warned that the insatiable demand for Novo Nordisk’s medicine and comparable weight reduction and diabetes therapies from rival Eli Lilly may potentially bankrupt the U.S. health-care system except costs drop.

Each drugmakers make GLP-1s, which mimic hormones produced within the intestine to tamp down an individual’s urge for food and regulate their blood sugar. Eli Lilly’s weight reduction injection Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro equally price round $1,000 per 30 days earlier than insurance coverage and different rebates.

In a launch, the Senate Well being Committee mentioned it might price the U.S. $411 billion per 12 months if half of all People took weight reduction medicine from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. That is $5 billion greater than what People spent on all prescribed drugs in 2022. 

Medicare spent $4.6 billion on Ozempic in 2022 alone, in keeping with well being coverage analysis group KFF. 

Different insurers and employers have applied strict necessities to manage weight reduction drug prices, or have dropped protection of these therapies altogether. Many well being plans cowl GLP-1s for diabetes, however not for weight reduction. The federal Medicare program does not pay for weight reduction therapies except they’re accepted and prescribed for an additional well being situation. 

The listening to comes because the Biden administration and lawmakers on either side of the aisle attempt to rein in health-care prices within the U.S., partially by pressuring the pharmaceutical business and drug provide chain middlemen. On common, People pay two to a few occasions greater than sufferers in different developed nations for prescribed drugs, in keeping with a fact sheet from the White Home.

Notably, Ozempic will probably be topic to the next round of value negotiations between producers and Medicare — a key provision of President Joe Biden‘s Inflation Discount Act that goals to decrease prices for seniors. Wall Avenue analysts say Ozempic will probably be eligible for negotiations by the point the following spherical of medication is chosen in 2025, for value modifications that may go into impact in 2027.