US Congress calls on Novo Nordisk to lower drug prices

The boss of the Danish pharmaceutical giant behind the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy promised Tuesday to examine lowering their prices in the United States, after coming under pressure from Congress.

The stakes are high for US patients, some of whom have difficulty accessing and affording the drugs under the often unwieldy and expensive health care system in the United States.

"If not made affordable, Americans throughout this country will needlessly die," left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders told Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen at a congressional hearing.

"Ozempic is sold in Canada for $155, in Denmark for $122, in France for $71, and in Germany for $59. 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 for $1,349 a month in the United States, nearly 15 times as much as it costs in the United Kingdom, Sanders continued.

"Will you commit today that Novo Nordisk will substantially reduce the list price of these drugs in the United States, so that the American people are not paying higher prices, far higher prices for these drugs than the people in Europe and Canada?" Sanders asked.

"Anything that will help patients get access to affordable medicine, will be happy to look into," Jorgenson replied -- though he pointed out that 80 percent of Americans with health insurance paid $25 or less a month.

Jorgenson also noted that the high prices were partly driven by other players, namely Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), who act as intermediaries between insurance companies and drug manufacturers, negotiating discounts and listing covered treatments.

PBMs receive a fee based on list price -- so, "the higher list price, the more fee they get for the same job," Jorgenson said.

"Which means that, in our experience, products that comes with a low list price get less coverage (from health insurers)," he continued.

For example, he said, when Novo Nordisk lowered the cost of insulin treatments, their drugs were taken off the list of medications covered by health care plans, "so less patients got access to those insulins.

"So I have a bit of concern how this could play out," he said.

Sanders replied 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 that they keep that commitment?" he asked Jorgenson.

"Yes, anything that can help patients get access, I'm supportive of," the Danish CEO replied.

US President Joe Biden has previously called for drug prices to be lowered in the United States, saying firms must stop "ripping off the American people."

High prices for prescription drugs have been a long-standing problem for American patients, and Biden has focused on lowering health care costs.