Ozempic maker defends high U.S. price: It's 'helping' reduce the cost of obesity
The CEO of Novo Nordisk defended the high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S., saying the blockbuster drugs are ultimately saving taxpayers money on obesity-related costs.
The CEO of Novo Nordisk defended the high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S., saying the blockbuster drugs are ultimately saving taxpayers money on obesity-related costs.
“If you look at just the cost of obesity in the U.S., it’s a disease that costs Americans more than $400 billion a year,” Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said in an interview on “NBC Nightly News.” “And we are actually providing products that’s actually helping take that cost burden off.”
Jørgensen, who spoke to NBC News before the company's "quiet period" ahead of its last earnings report, called accusations that the company is operating as a drug cartel “unfounded.”
Jørgensen is scheduled to testify about the U.S. pricing of the drugmaker’s hugely popular diabetes and weight loss drugs at a highly anticipated Senate committee hearing next month.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told NBC News in June that he plans to ask Jørgensen why Novo Nordisk charges up to 10 to 15 times more for Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S. than it does in other countries. It charges around $1,300 a month for Wegovy in the U.S., according to a HELP Committee report, while the drug can be purchased for $186 a month in Denmark, $137 in Germany and $92 in the United Kingdom.
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