US President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to lower prices for diabetes and weight loss drugs such as Ozempic, saying firms must stop "ripping off the American people."
In an article written with Senator Bernie Sanders, Biden said US patients pay several times more than in Canada, Germany and Denmark for Nordisk's diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which can also be used for weight loss.
One-month supply of Ozempic in the United States last year was $936, compared to $169 in Canada and $103 in Germany, according to one study.
Eli Lilly was also charging "unconscionably high prices" for Mounjaro, a drug similar to Ozempic.
"Why should people in Burlington, Vermont, pay so much more than people in Copenhagen or Berlin for the same drug?" wrote Biden and Sanders, who chairs the Senate healthcare committee.
Such "price gouging" makes the drugs unaffordable to millions of Americans, they said.
"If the prices of these drugs are not substantially reduced, they have the potential to bankrupt the American health care system," Biden and Sanders wrote. "We will not allow that to happen."
Nordisk and Lilly did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
High prices for prescription drugs have been a long-standing problem for American patients, and Democrat Biden has focused on lowering healthcare costs as part of his reelection campaign in November.
The piece in USA Today comes days after Biden's weak performance during a televised presidential debate with Republican Donald Trump sparked sharp concern among Democrats.