Bernie Sanders grills Novo Nordisk CEO on price of Ozempic, other weight-loss drugs
Senate hearing comes amid surge in popularity of Ozempic, Wegovy, other weight-loss drugs
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Sen. Bernie Sanders grilled Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen during a Tuesday Senate hearing regarding the cost of its weight-loss drugs in the U.S.
In opening remarks before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sanders argued that Novo's Ozempic costs over 15 times more in the U.S. than in Germany and that Wegovy is nearly 15 times more expensive in the U.S. compared to the U.K. Both drugs, which have the same active ingredient but different approved uses, have surged in popularity in the U.S. market.
Jorgensen said that the risk of lowering list prices is that the pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) would drop coverage of them. He used Levemir, a long-acting insulin that was discontinued in January, as an example.
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Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen speaks during a TV interview in New York, on Aug. 10, 2022. (Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Jorgensen said after the company dropped the list price by 65%, PBMs dropped coverage of the product. The drug went from being on 90% of insurance plans to about 35%.
Sanders argued that he received written commitments from the major PBMs that if "Novo Nordisk, substantially reduced the list for Ozempic and Wegovy, they would not limit coverage. In fact, all of them told me they would be able to expand coverage for these drugs if the list price was reduced."
Given this, Sanders asked Jorgensen if the company would commit to substantially reducing the list price of these drugs in the U.S.
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The chief executive, who took over in 2017, said he'd be happy to "do anything that helps patients," but doesn't know under what conditions these promises were made.
Almost all U.S. commercial insurance plans cover Ozempic and about half cover Wegovy, according to Jorgensen. He said that 80% of all Americans with insurance have access to these medicines at $25.
Jorgensen said it's not the company's intention for anyone to pay the list price and that it "is a starting point for negotiations against the PBMs and insurance companies."
Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Tuesday. (JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Sanders said that "if you are uninsured, you pay the full list price. If you have a large deductible, you pay the full list price. If you have co-insurance, the percentage of the price you pay at the pharmacy counter is based on the list price."
The senator continued, saying that in the best case, the company is charging Americans nearly $600 for Ozempic with all the rebates and all the discounts, which is "over nine times as much as people in Germany pay for the product."
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Ozempic was approved by federal health officials in 2017 and marketed for medical use in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes "with weight loss as a secondary effect of the drug’s effects and mechanism of action."
Wegovy was approved in 2021 for chronic weight management in adults who are obese or overweight and have at least one weight-related condition.