WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) renewed his criticism of drug maker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday, alleging that CEOs of major generic drug companies told him they could manufacture and sell the company’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic for less than $100 a month.
Sanders made the remarks at a roundtable of experts on Capitol Hill previewing a speech by Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fluagaard Jorgensen. Testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions next week.
Ms. Jorgensen agreed to testify in June about the pricing of Ozempic and the company’s highly popular weight-loss drug Wegovi in the U.S. Mr. Sanders, who chairs the Senate committee, launched an investigation into Novo Nordisk’s pricing practices in April.
Novo Nordisk charges about $1,300 a month for Wegobee in the United States, although it can be purchased for $186 a month in Denmark, $137 in Germany and $92 in the UK. According to the committee’s report.
Sanders said at a roundtable discussion on Tuesday that recent discussions with generic drug makers have made it clear that Novo Nordisk’s pricing is “nothing but excessive corporate greed.”
“They studied the math and told me they could sell a generic version of Ozempic, the exact same drug that Novo Nordisk makes, to Americans for under $100 a month,” Sanders said, “less than 10 percent of what Americans are currently paying.”
Sanders’ office did not say which generic drug companies told him they could sell Ozempic for a fraction of Novo Nordisk’s price.
Whether generic drug makers would actually be able to sell Ozempic at a lower price is irrelevant, because Novo Nordisk holds the exclusive patent, preventing others from producing the drug.
Still, Sanders’ comments offer a glimpse into the types of questions Jorgensen could face next week.
Tuesday’s roundtable included experts from Yale University; T1Internatonal, an advocacy group for people with Type 1 diabetes; and North Carolina Treasurer Dale Falwell, who has criticized the high prices of Ozempic and Wegobee in the state.
In August, Sanders called Eli Lilly’s move to cut prices for the two lowest doses of its weight-loss drug Zepbound a “modest step forward,” but criticized the company for not lowering the price of its diabetes drug Maunjaro.
Novo Nordisk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
