US Congress calls on Novo Nordisk to lower drug prices

The boss of the Danish pharmaceutical giant behind the successful diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy vowed on Tuesday to explore lowering their prices in the United States after coming under pressure from Congress.

The stakes are high for U.S. patients, some of whom have difficulty accessing and affording the drugs in the U.S.'s often cumbersome and expensive health care system.

“If the costs are not made affordable, Americans across the country will die needlessly,” left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders told Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen at a congressional hearing.

“Ozempic sells for $155 in Canada, $122 in Denmark, $71 in France and $59 in Germany. In the United States, Novo Nordisk charges us $969,” Sanders continued.

Ozempic was originally developed as a drug to treat diabetes. Wegovy, which targets weight loss, sells in the US for $1,349 a month, almost 15 times the price in the UK, Sanders continued.

“Will you commit today to Novo Nordisk significantly reducing the list price of these drugs in the United States so that the American people do not have to pay higher, much higher prices for these drugs than the people in Europe and Canada?” asked Sanders.

“Anything that helps patients get access to affordable medicine is welcome,” Jorgenson replied – even though he pointed out that 80 percent of Americans with health insurance pay $25 or less per month.

Jorgenson also pointed out that the high prices are partly driven by other players, namely pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who act as intermediaries between insurance companies and drug manufacturers, negotiating discounts and listing the covered treatments.

PBMs receive a fee based on the list price – that is, “the higher the list price, the more fee they get for the same work,” Jorgenson said.

“This means that, in our experience, products with a low list price receive fewer benefits (from health insurance companies),” he continued.

For example, when Novo Nordisk reduced the cost of insulin treatments, the company's drugs were removed from the list of drugs covered by health insurers, “so fewer patients had access to these insulins,” he said.

“So I’m a little concerned about how this might play out,” he said.

Sanders responded that he had received promises from three major PBMs not to limit coverage of Ozempic and Wegovy if their prices were lowered.

“Do I have your commitment that you will sit down with the three companies to make sure they keep that commitment?” he asked Jorgenson.

“Yes, I support anything that can help patients get access,” replied the Danish CEO.

US President Joe Biden had previously called for a reduction in drug prices in the US and said that companies must stop “ripping off the American people”.

High prescription drug prices have long been a problem for American patients, and Biden has focused on reducing health care costs.

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