Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, CEO of Novo Nordisk, speaks throughout an interview in New York on Aug. 10, 2022.Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesNovo Nordisk’s most sensible government is slated to stand a Senate grilling on Tuesday over the top costs of the corporate’s weight reduction drug Wegovy and diabetes remedy Ozempic, as call for for each injections soars within the U.S. Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will testify at a Senate Well being, Schooling, Hard work and Pensions Committee listening to at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. It comes more or less 5 months after Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont impartial who chairs the Senate panel, opened an investigation into the Danish drugmaker’s pricing practices. Sanders contends that Novo Nordisk fees American citizens considerably upper costs for its blockbuster medicine than it does for sufferers in different nations. Earlier than insurance coverage, Ozempic prices just about $969 monthly and Wegovy prices nearly $1,350 monthly within the U.S. In the meantime, each therapies can price as low as beneath $100 for a month’s provide in some Ecu nations, in keeping with a unlock from the committee. Ozempic prices simply $59 in Germany, whilst Wegovy prices $92 within the U.Ok.Sanders additionally stated remaining week that the CEOs of primary generic pharmaceutical corporations have informed him that they might promote a model of Ozempic for not up to $100 a month at a benefit. There are these days no generic possible choices to Ozempic to be had within the U.S. Weight reduction syringes of the manufacturers “Wegovy”, “Ozempic” and “Mounjaro” are offered at In der Achat Apotheke in Mitte, Germany.Image Alliance | Image Alliance | Getty ImagesSanders and different lawmakers, fitness professionals and insurers have warned that the insatiable call for for Novo Nordisk’s medicine and identical weight reduction and diabetes therapies from rival Eli Lilly may probably bankrupt the U.S. health-care device until costs drop.Each drugmakers make GLP-1s, which mimic hormones produced within the intestine to tamp down an individual’s urge for food and keep an eye on their blood sugar. Eli Lilly’s weight reduction injection Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro in a similar fashion price round $1,000 monthly sooner than insurance coverage and different rebates.In a unlock, the Senate Well being Committee stated it could price the U.S. $411 billion according to yr if part of all American citizens took weight reduction medicine from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. That is $5 billion greater than what American citizens spent on all prescribed drugs in 2022. Medicare spent $4.6 billion on Ozempic in 2022 by myself, in keeping with fitness coverage analysis group KFF. Extra CNBC fitness coverageOther insurers and employers have applied strict necessities to keep watch over weight reduction drug prices, or have dropped protection of the ones therapies altogether. Many fitness plans duvet GLP-1s for diabetes, however no longer for weight reduction. The federal Medicare program does not pay for weight reduction therapies until they’re licensed and prescribed for every other fitness situation. The listening to comes because the Biden management and lawmakers on either side of the aisle attempt to rein in health-care prices within the U.S., partly by way of pressuring the pharmaceutical trade and drug provide chain middlemen. On moderate, American citizens pay two to 3 occasions greater than sufferers in different evolved countries for prescribed drugs, in keeping with a truth sheet from the White Area.Particularly, Ozempic will be topic to the following spherical of value negotiations between producers and Medicare — a key provision of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Relief Act that goals to decrease prices for seniors. Wall Boulevard analysts say Ozempic will be eligible for negotiations by the point the following spherical of gear is chosen in 2025, for value adjustments that can cross into impact in 2027.Don’t pass over those insights from CNBC PRO
