Novo Nordisk A/S NVO will consider ways to help patients get affordable prescriptions for weight loss drugs, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told members of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday when asked if his company would lower U.S. prices for Ozempic and Wegovy.
Jorgensen sat before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), to answer questions on why Ozempic costs $969 per month in the U.S. versus only $155 per month in Canada, $122 in Denmark, $59 in Germany and $71 in France.
A month’s prescription for Wegovy in the U.S. costs $1,349, compared to $186 in Denmark, $140 in Germany and $92 in the U.K.
“You’re making huge amounts of money in this country and you’re charging us far more and you haven’t given me an answer as to why,” Sanders said to Jorgensen during the hearing.
Sanders then told Jorgensen that pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) would keep both Ozempic and Wegovy on their insurance coverage lists if his company substantially lowered the prices of these drugs in the U.S.
“I have received commitments in writing from the major PBMs that if Novo Nordisk lowered its list price, they would not limit access to Ozempic and Wegovy and would not take these drugs off of their formularies,” Sanders said.
“Given this fact, will you commit today that Novo Nordisk will substantially reduce the list price of these drugs in the United States so that the American people are not paying higher prices, far higher prices for these drugs than the people in Europe and Canada?”
Jorgensen said his company will examine ways to give U.S. patients “access to affordable medicine” after hearing of this commitment for the first time.
“Thank you, senator, for for that information. That’s new information for me,” he said.
“Anything that will help patients get access to affordable medicine, we’ll be happy to look into.”
But he said he was a bit concerned by the commitment because an insulin medicine made by Novo Nordisk was dropped from PBM’s formularies after the company dropped internet pricing for the drug last year.
“I have a bit of concern how this could play out but anything that can help patients get access to the medicines they need at affordable price point will be happy to collaborate around that,” Jorgensen said.
Sanders asked Jorgensen if he would be willing to sit down with governors to work on an agreement to lower the prices for Ozempic and Wegovy, based on the commitment from PBMs.
“I’d be happy to, as I said to anything that helps patients,” he said. “I don’t know under which conditions such a promise comes. I haven’t seen any of that.”
NVO Price Action: Novo Nordisk rose 2.25% to $126.48 into Tuesday’s mid-day trading.
Read Now:
Photo: Natalia Varlei On Shutterstock
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Comments
Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.
