WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., renewed his criticism of drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday, claiming CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies told him they can produce and sell their blockbuster drug of diabetes Ozempic for less than $100 a. month.
Sanders made the remark at an expert roundtable on Capitol Hill, which served as a preview for Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen. testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next week.
In June, Jorgensen agreed to testify about the price of Ozempic in the United States, as well as that of the very popular weight loss drug Wegovy. Sanders, who chairs the Senate committee, opened an investigation into Novo Nordisk’s pricing practices in April.
Novo Nordisk charges about $1,300 a month for Wegovy in the United States, although the drug can be purchased for $186 a month in Denmark, $137 in Germany and $92 in the United Kingdom. according to a committee report.
During Tuesday’s roundtable, Sanders said his recent conversations with generic drugmakers revealed that Novo Nordisk’s pricing is “nothing less than excessive corporate greed.”
“They’ve done the math, and they’re telling me they can sell a generic version of Ozempic, the same drug that Novo Nordisk makes, to Americans for less than $100 a month,” Sanders said. “Less than 10% of what Americans currently pay.”
Sanders’ office declined to say which generic drug companies told him they could sell Ozempic at a fraction of what Novo Nordisk is charging.
Whether generic drug makers can actually sell Ozempic at a lower price is irrelevant since Novo Nordisk holds the exclusive patent, meaning other companies are prevented from producing the drug.
Still, Sanders’ comment offered a glimpse into the kinds of questions Jorgensen will face next week.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said that the net price of Ozempic – the amount paid after rebates and discounts – has decreased by 40% since the drug was approved in the United States in 2017, and the net price of Wegovy follows a similar trend.
Tuesday’s roundtable included experts from Yale, T1Internatonal, an advocacy group for people with Type 1 diabetes, and Dale Folwell, the state treasurer of North Carolina, who has been critical of the high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in his state.
In August, Sanders commented on Eli Lilly’s move to reduce the cost of its two lower doses of its weight-loss drug Zepbound, calling it “a modest step forward,” but criticized the drugmaker for not have not lowered the price of their diabetes drug Mounjaro.