Senators grilled the CEO of Novo Nordisk Lars Jørgensen Tuesday in a hearing over the cost of Ozempic, Wegovy and similar weight loss drugs, asking for an explanation for why the US faces a higher list price than other countries.
Since it first entered the market almost six years ago, the drug has been popular with diabetics and others who want to fight obesity. But doctors and patients face challenges in access and affordability.
Sitting in front of a graph showing the low prices for Wegovy and Ozempic in other countries, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the Senate Health Committee, pressed Jørgensen on why it would be fairer to charge more in the US.
“All we’re saying, Mr. Jørgensen, is treat Americans the same way you treat people around the world. Stop ripping us off,” Sanders told Jørgensen.
MORE: Video of Ozempic CEO to testify on drug prices on Capitol Hill
Sanders asked Jørgensen why the US is facing higher prices. Novo Nordisk charges $969 a month for Ozempic in the US, compared to $155 a month in Canada and $59 in Germany. For Wegovy, it costs $1,349 per month in the US, but $265 in Canada and $137 in Germany.
“The bottom line is, you’re charging Americans more for the same drug than you’re charging people in other countries. And my question is, why?” Sanders asked.
The CEO said the company is spending $30 billion to increase production and access to the drug. He also highlighted the 40% drop in costs since Ozempic came on the market and sliding costs for people across the US, including programs for low-income Americans to access the drug at a lower cost.
But ultimately, Jørgensen blames the complexity of the US health care system.
“Senator, we are very committed to making sure that Americans have access at an affordable price point to our medicines. There is nothing we would rather have happen. We just announced a $30 billion investment to increase our capacity to serve these patients. There is a market that’s what we have to do, and we’re negotiating hard to make sure Americans have access,” he said.
“With that said, it’s clear that patients often struggle to navigate the complex US health care system. It’s also clear that no single company can handle the many and complex policy changes,” Jørgensen added.
Novo Nordisk isn’t responsible for deciding what prices patients pay insurers, he said, and he said pharmacy benefit managers, or companies that help monitor prescription drug benefits and control costs, interfere with companies that offer discounts directly to patients.
But Jørgensen didn’t offer a direct answer as to why the U.S. faces higher list prices than other countries, instead pointing to “a very complex market and a very complex health care system that creates a lot of misunderstandings.”
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“Everybody’s blaming everybody else,” Sanders said, from pharmaceutical companies to PBMs to insurance companies.
Sanders connected the high prices of Wegovy and Ozempic to what has been a central point of his career, including the 2016 and 2020 campaigns: corporate greed.
“Are they acting illegally by charging exorbitant prices? Are they breaking the law? No, they are not. What they are doing is legal. The United States is the only major country on earth that does not negotiate prescription drug costs,” Sanders said.
“In other words, Novo Nordisk and other drug companies, not just Novo Nordisk, can charge us as much as the market can bear, and that’s what they’re doing,” he said.
Jørgensen and several Republican senators, including the ranking member of Sen. Bill Cassidy, points out that wholesale prices do not give an apples-to-apples picture because, in the US, insurance and rebates usually reduce the price paid by patients by a significant amount.
MORE: Novo Nordisk announces $6B investment in Ozempic, Wegovy amid shortages
“There is tension, tension between the need to incentivize innovation and the ability to afford that innovation. We are here struggling with that balance,” Cassidy, who is a doctor, said. “If anyone thinks that big pharma is the silver bullet that if you do, boom, health care costs or drug costs go down, they don’t understand what’s going on with drug prices.”
Sanders rejected the objection, but said it was still unfair for higher initial list prices in the US. This results in US patients, Sanders said, leaving Americans with higher prices even with rebates or insurance. Of course, uninsured Americans — about 8% of the nation — also pay the full list price.
“Even factoring in all the rebates (pharmaceutical benefit managers) received, the net price for Ozempic is still almost $600 – more than nine times the cost in Germany. And the estimated net price for Wegovy is more than $800 – almost four and a half times the price in Denmark,” Sanders said.
When it comes to insurance coverage, drug prices are “passed through to the insurance company” resulting in higher plan prices, Sanders said.
“What you need to understand is that not everyone can take advantage of the net price of the drug. If you are not insured, you have to pay the full list price. If you have a large deductible, you have to pay the full list price. co-insurance, a percentage of the price that you pay at the pharmacy counter based on the list price,” Sanders said.
Novo Nordisk continued to blame health insurance intermediaries for high drug prices in a statement released after the hearing.
“Our hope is that the conversation with the HELP Committee will result in real and tangible solutions that benefit patients and allow millions of people with this serious and chronic disease to be the direct beneficiaries of real change,” the company said. “While no single company can fix America’s health care system, we look forward to continuing to work with policymakers and other stakeholders on solutions that benefit the people who rely on our medicines.”
ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
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