Ozempic, Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk faces hearing over high cost of weight loss drugs
Is Ozempic and Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk helping Americans save taxpayer money or ripping them off? The company's CEO testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday extracted a meager commitment from Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen to meet with pharmacy benefits managers to discuss lowering the cost of its blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
During the often tense hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Jørgensen shifted the blame for the drugs’ high prices to the pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), saying that Ozempic and Wegovy would no longer be offered by the middlemen if they had a lower list price.
A “high list price,” he said, “is more likely to lead to more access to patients.”
Sanders, however, said that he recently received commitments in writing from “all the major PBMs" — UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx, CVS Health’s Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts — that if Novo Nordisk substantially reduced the list price, they wouldn’t take Ozempic and Wegovy off their formularies, or the list of drugs they offer. PBMs work with insurance companies to negotiate discounts or rebates on drugs in return for coverage. PBMs have been criticized for pushing patents to higher-priced drugs.
“If in fact they keep their commitment, will Novo Nordisk substantially lower the list price of Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S.?” Sanders, who chairs the committee, asked.
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