Sanders Calls BS on Novo Nordisk Excuses for Sky-High Prices of Ozempic, Wegovy

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday rejected the pharmaceutical Novo Nordisk's justifications for the high prices of two increasingly popular obesity and diabetes medications in the United States, telling the company's CEO to "stop ripping us off."

Sanders' (I-Vt.) remarks came during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing featuring testimony from Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, the chief executive of the Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk.

"The United States is Novo Nordisk's cash cow for Ozempic and Wegovy," said Sanders, noting that the company has made $50 billion in sales of the two drugs since 2018—a majority of them in the U.S., where the company charges significantly higher prices than in Denmark, Germany, and other rich countries.

The senator rejected Jørgensen's efforts in his written testimony to explain away the high prices for the two medications. The executive pointed to the "complexity" of the U.S. healthcare system and rebates to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), among other factors, to justify the current list prices of Ozempic and Wegovy—$969 a month and $1,349 a month, respectively, in the U.S.

Sanders observed that "even factoring in all of the rebates that PBMs receive, the net price for Ozempic is still nearly $600—over nine times as much as it costs in Germany."

"And the estimated net price of Wegovy," the senator added, "is over $800—nearly four and a half times as much as it costs in Denmark."

Watch the full hearing:

Ahead of Tuesday's hearing, Sanders released a report countering Jørgensen's insistence that cutting the list prices of Ozempic and Wegovy would lead to PBMs "dropping" the medications from their formularies, resulting in less access to the drugs.

"Three major PBMs that help determine drug coverage for most of the nation—Cigna Group/Express Scripts, CVS Health/Caremark, UnitedHealth Group/Optum Rx—confirmed to Chair Sanders that a list price reduction would not negatively impact formulary placement for Ozempic and Wegovy, and affirmed that lower list prices would, in fact, make the drugs more widely available to patients in need," Sanders' office said.

The report also disputes Novo Nordisk's claim that price cuts would undermine the company's ability to "invest in new and innovative drug research and development efforts"—a claim that pharmaceutical firms often use to justify high prices.

"Since launching Ozempic in 2018, Novo Nordisk has spent twice as much on stock buybacks and dividends ($44 billion) as it has on research and development ($21 billion), according to financial filings," the report notes. "Novo Nordisk has also lavished cash and perks on healthcare providers, sending doctors on trips to Alaska, Hawaii, and Florida, and paying for nearly 1.7 million meals and snacks for doctors and other healthcare providers to promote Ozempic and Wegovy, federal records show."

"Right now, rationing is a painful reality for American patients dealing with issues related to diabetes and obesity."

During Tuesday's hearing, Jørgensen said he would be willing to do "anything that will help patients get access to affordable medicine" but did not specifically pledge to reduce the prices of Ozempic and Wegovy. Jørgensen told the Senate committee that PBMs' vows not to reduce access to the drugs in the case of price cuts was "new information to me."

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizensaid following the Senate hearing that Medicare would save $14 billion on Ozempic and Wegovy if the Biden administration used its existing legal authority to approve generic competition for the two medications.

"Novo today appeared unable, or unwilling, to articulate a credible response [to] why it charges Americans more than people in other wealthy countries," said Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen's Access to Medicines program. "The federal government must open generic competition with Ozempic and Wegovy."

"Right now, rationing is a painful reality for American patients dealing with issues related to diabetes and obesity," he continued. "The federal government has an obligation to serve these patients' health needs. In doing so, we can also improve Medicare's financial health. As Sen. Sanders has cautioned, Novo Nordisk's price gouging practices would impose unmanageable costs on Medicare if its drugs were made available to all seniors who might benefit from them."