Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is ramping up his campaign against what he says are “outrageously high” list prices for Novo Nordisk’s weight loss and diabetes blockbusters Wegovy and Ozempic.
The senator announced Wednesday that his Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) is launching an investigation into Novo’s pricing strategy, noting that Wegovy and Ozempic are hundreds of dollars cheaper in other countries. Sanders said in a letter to Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen that high costs keep the drugs out of reach for some patients, and threaten to “bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our entire health care system.”
The current list price of Wegovy is about $1,350 for a month’s supply, while Ozempic’s list price is $969 per month.
“Unfortunately, Novo Nordisk’s pricing has turned drugs that could improve people’s lives into luxury goods,” Sanders wrote in the letter. He called on Novo to “substantially reduce the price of Ozempic and Wegovy,” and provide the HELP Committee with more information on its sales, cost of R&D and “any strategy to protect or extend the product or product line’s exclusivity.”
A Novo spokesperson told Endpoints News on Wednesday that it “remains committed to working with policymakers to advance solutions to support access and affordability for all patients.”
“It’s easy to oversimplify the science that goes into understanding disease and developing and producing new treatments, as well as the intricacies of U.S. and global healthcare systems. However, the public debate doesn’t always take into account this extremely complex reality,” the spokesperson said.
The announcement by Sanders follows Wegovy’s recent label expansion to prevent heart problems such as heart attack and stroke. Medicare and Medicaid are barred from covering the drug for obesity alone. But CMS recently determined that weight loss drugs should be covered for patients receiving them for additional medical conditions, potentially expanding access.
A recent study from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that more than 3.6 million Americans could become eligible for Medicare coverage under Wegovy’s new indication.
Sanders’ letter follows his request in March for Novo to lower the list prices of Wegovy and Ozempic. The HELP Committee has pressed multiple pharma companies on US drug prices in recent months, including Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson in a February hearing.
The pharma industry’s lobbying group PhRMA blasted Sanders’ investigation on Wednesday, blaming insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers for high prices.
“Once again, Sen. Sanders is attacking an innovative company to advance a personal political agenda instead of addressing the real cause of patients’ affordability challenges,” PhRMA’s senior VP of public affairs Alex Schriver said in an emailed statement.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include comment from Novo Nordisk.