Really support
Independent journalism
Our mission is to provide unbiased, fact-based journalism that holds power accountable and exposes the truth.
Every donation counts, whether it’s $5 or $50.
Support us to deliver journalism without purpose.
The company, which makes the popular weight loss and diabetes drug Ozempic, slammed Joe Biden after he accused the pharmaceutical giant of “ripping off” American consumers with exorbitant prescription prices.
President Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, USA Today On Tuesday, he expressed concern about the “exorbitant prices the pharmaceutical industry is charging Americans for prescription drugs.”
Democratic leaders accused Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which makes the diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovee, of “charging Americans exorbitantly high prices for these prescription drugs.”
“Why should people in Burlington, Vermont pay so much more than people in Copenhagen or Berlin for the same medicine?” they wrote.
The average price for an Ozempic prescription in the United States is $936, but in France it is just $83. 2023 KFF Report.
Democrats pointed to legislative efforts aimed at lowering drug costs, such as the Stop Inflation Act, before blasting big pharmaceutical companies. “It’s not just Congress that needs to act. Prescription drug companies must stop ripping off the American people, too.”
Novo Nordisk has strongly condemned the allegations, POLITICO “I am disappointed that a very difficult and complex issue has been oversimplified and misrepresented for political purposes,” he said.
“Each country has its own healthcare system and making isolated and limited comparisons ignores this fundamental concern,” a company spokesperson told the media.
The price of Ozempic “has fallen about 40 percent since its launch, and more than 80 percent of insured Americans are paying less than $25 a month for the drug,” the report said.
The spokesperson continued: “Unfortunately, when we lower our prices, U.S. patients often do not pass on the savings, which is a problem.”
Demand for weight loss drugs is skyrocketing. 6% of U.S. adults, An estimated 15.5 million people use injectable weight-loss drugs, according to a May Gallup poll.
But none will match the popularity of Ozempic, which celebrities are hailing as a weight-loss miracle drug, and whose recent surge is hard to overstate: The company’s market capitalization is $570 billion, more than Denmark’s entire GDP of $400 billion. Bloomberg It was reported in April.
Democrats also took aim at Eli Lilly and Company, accusing the company of “charging exorbitant prices for Munjaro, a drug with similar health benefits to Ozempic. The average list price for the drug is $1,023 in the United States, compared to $444 in the Netherlands, according to a KFF study.
Independent An Eli Lilly spokesperson was emailed seeking comment.
