Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate health committee, has proposed issuing a subpoena to Novo Nordisk President Doug Langa forcing him to testify regarding the company’s pricing for Wegovy and Ozempic.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday moved to subpoena Novo Nordisk President Doug Langa, forcing him to testify before the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee regarding the pricing of the pharma’s top-selling semaglutide brands Wegovy and Ozempic.
Sanders, chair of the committee, wants to know why Novo charges up to 10 to 15 times more for Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S. compared with other developed countries. The committee is set to vote on the subpoena on June 18 and a hearing is scheduled for July 10.
“It is not acceptable to me or the American people that we continue to be ripped off by giant pharmaceutical companies who make huge profits every year while charging us outrageous prices,” Sanders said in a statement, adding that the committee has “time and time again” reached out to Novo to request its voluntary attendance at a hearing.
“Unfortunately, despite all of our efforts, they have repeatedly denied our requests,” Sanders said.
Tuesday’s news comes after the senate committee in April 2024 launched a probe into the pricing of Ozempic and Wegovy. At the time, Sanders highlighted the differences in cost of these treatments among countries. In the U.S., Ozempic goes for $969 per month, while the drug is available for $155 in Canada and $59 in Germany. Wegovy, which costs $1,349 a month in the U.S., can be bought for $92 in the U.K.
Sanders reiterated these figures in his statement on Tuesday, adding that at their current prices, Wegovy and Ozempic could have far-reaching implications for the U.S. healthcare system.
The senator contends that Wegovy and other anti-obesity medications would cost Medicare and Medicaid $166 billion per year if half of its beneficiaries with obesity took these treatments. This sum rivals “what the two federal health programs spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022,” according to Sanders.
In March 2024, a study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which found that injectable formulations of semaglutide, such as Wegovy and Ozempic, could be profitably manufactured for less than $5 per month, much lower than the treatments’ current list prices.
Generic versions of these treatments, as well as a more robust competitive landscape, could further push GLP-1 prices down to as low as $0.75 per month, according to the study.
Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.
