By Patrick Wingrove
(Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is ready to query Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) CEO Lars Jorgensen on Tuesday over the drugmaker’s costs for its fashionable weight-loss and diabetes medicines that may price Individuals greater than $1,000 a month.
Sanders is anticipated to problem the CEO throughout a listening to of the Senate Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which he chairs, on why the corporate costs American payors extra for the lifesaving medicine than some other nation.
Semaglutide, a drug within the GLP-1 class that’s marketed as Wegovy for weight reduction and Ozempic for type-2 diabetes, has been proven to assist sufferers lose a median of 15% of their weight.
Ozempic and Wegovy carry U.S record costs of $935.77 and $1,349.02, respectively, for a month’s provide, which Sanders has beforehand argued is way larger than the respective $59 and $92 worth tags they carry in some European nations.
Jorgensen is anticipated to say that type-2 diabetes prices america round $413 billion yearly, whereas weight problems prices $1.7 trillion yearly, in response to ready remarks seen by Reuters.
He’s additionally anticipated to say that sufferers usually battle to navigate the U.S. healthcare system, and that Novo will work with HELP “to address structural issues that harm patients and drive up costs”.
Jorgensen stated in a written assertion despatched to the committee that Novo had spent $4.2 billion on diabetes and weight problems analysis and improvement in 2023 alone.
He stated 99% of U.S. industrial insurance policy now cowl Ozempic and round half cowl Wegovy. Greater than 80% of U.S. sufferers with insurance coverage protection for the medicine pay lower than $25 for a month’s provide and 90% pay lower than $50, he added.
The CEO stated Novo Nordisk has dedicated $30 billion to develop manufacturing capability because the begin of final 12 months, most of which has been directed to GLP-1 medicine, together with $4.1 billion to develop its facility in North Carolina final June.
Hovering demand for Ozempic and Wegovy and rival medicines from Eli Lilly (NYSE:) led to shortages of the medicine for a lot of this 12 months.
Ozempic prices have decreased about 40% since launch whereas these for Wegovy have equally declined for payors who obtain reductions, Jorgensen stated.
Sanders stated earlier this month that generic drugmakers have confirmed they might promote copycat variations of Ozempic for lower than $100 a month, and has beforehand stated the excessive price of those medicine had the potential to bankrupt the American well being system.
Jorgensen stated Ozempic can be eligible for U.S. authorities worth negotiations for its Medicare well being program in 2027, assuming its meets different authorized standards. The corporate has beforehand informed analysts it expects Medicare to barter the costs of Ozempic and Wegovy for that 12 months.
