US Senator Sanders may pressure Novo Nordisk to lower prices for Wegovy and Ozempic, according to Reuters.

By Ahmed Aboulenein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senator Bernie Sanders has said he believes Novo Nordisk (NYSE: ) will lower U.S. prices for weight-loss drugs, no matter how impressive the company is by publicly shaming its popular Ozempic and Wegovy drugs. Prices in other countries.

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen spoke at a September hearing focused on U.S. prices for Ozempic and Wegovy, chaired by Sanders in the Senate Health, Education He is scheduled to testify before the Committee on Work and Pensions (HELP).

“I think we’ve got a real shot, and I’m glad to see the support of President Biden’s effort,” Sanders told Reuters in a phone interview.

The strategy was last year Novo, He worked for Sanders when he was in charge of Eli Lilly (NYSE: ) and Novo. Sanofi (NASDAQ:) high prices of insulin. After months of pressure, all three companies announced they were cutting prices ahead of a scheduled aid committee hearing.

“I think the main thing we can do is we’ve done this successfully in the past with insulin … focus on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry in general and Novo Nordisk in particular, and rip the American people off,” Sanders said.

A spokesman for Novo Nordisk said the drug maker’s actual earnings from the drug company had fallen 40% since the drug’s launch, but those savings had not been passed on to consumers. The drug maker blamed pharmacy benefit managers in a letter. to the committee. Sanders says the price drop isn’t enough.

Pharmacy benefit managers act as intermediaries between drug companies and consumers.

More than 80% of Americans with insurance pay $25 or less per month for drugs, a Novo Nordisk spokesman said.

Insurance companies are paying more for the drug, which drives up insurance prices as well as hospital costs, so payers continue to be impacted by higher prices, Sanders said.

“It’s very difficult to protect ourselves, especially when every company that’s making record profits is charging Americans many times more for the same drug than it pays people in other countries,” Sanders said.

Sanders wants to see Novo’s Ozempic price in the U.S. drop to around $155, the price of the drug in Canada.

A one-month supply of Novo’s diabetes drug Ozempic, which has the same active ingredient as Wegovy and is over-the-counter for weight loss, has a US list price of $935.77, while Wegovy lists for $1,349.02 per month. Most consumers have low wages.

Unrivaled demand for new weight-loss drugs from Novo and Lilly has boosted the companies’ share prices, making them among the world’s most valuable companies.

Sanders acknowledged that his current focus on Novo Nordisk, which is on track to become the most profitable drug in history, will surely reach Eli Lilly, which sells rival drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. “Outrageous.”

Mounjaro and Zepbound list about $1,100 per month.

Some researchers predict that the total market for weight loss drugs will reach more than $100 billion by the end of the decade.

“Eli Lilly is a big player, too. We know that, so we’re not prejudiced against Novo,” Sanders said.

PBMS is also in CROSSHAIRS.

Sanders said he would expand the maximum number of drugs eligible for Medicare price adjustments from 20 to 50 per year and increase the annual $2,000 cap for Americans outside of Medicare. He said he hopes to get mutual support for these measures.

President Joe Biden called for both provisions in his State of the Union address earlier this year.

Sanders plans to look at how insurance-covered drugs are determined and pharmacy benefit managers, who are blamed for high prices and drug companies, but said drugmakers can’t use them as an excuse.

“It’s true that PBMs play a negative role, but … (pharmaceutical companies) are still ripping off the American people,” Sanders said.

Sanders said Novo Nordisk has not engaged positively with the Senate committee. Following Sanders’ subpoena threat, the company announced its CEO would testify before a Senate committee.

Novo Nordisk has offered to hold briefings for committee staff, but no briefings are scheduled, a company spokesman said. The spokesman said he also sent a 22-page letter responding to the committee’s questions.

“Novo, in all their press releases, they keep saying they want to work with elected officials in a constructive way. They don’t,” Sanders said. “They didn’t come back to us with anything positive.”