NEWS: Sanders Statement on Outrageous Cost of Ozempic
WASHINGTON, March 27 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, on Wednesday called on Novo Nordisk to lower the list price of Ozempic and issued the following statement after the release of a new study, which found that the diabetes and weight-loss drug could be profitably produced for less than $5 a month.
Sanders said:
Today, a new Yale study found that Ozempic costs less than $5 a month to manufacture. And yet, Novo Nordisk charges Americans nearly $1,000 a month for this drug, while the same exact product can be purchased for just $155 a month in Canada and just $59 in Germany.
As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), I am calling on Novo Nordisk to lower the list price of Ozempic – and the related drug Wegovy – in America to no more than what they charge for this drug in Canada. The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs while the pharmaceutical industry enjoys huge profits.
As a result of a major grassroots movement, Novo Nordisk did the right thing by recently reducing the price of its insulin products by some 75% in America. Novo Nordisk, a company that made nearly $15 billion in profits last year, must now do the right thing with respect to Ozempic and Wegovy.
Ozempic has the potential to be a game changer in the diabetes and obesity epidemics in America. But, if we do not substantially reduce the price of this drug, millions who need it will be unable to afford it. Further, this outrageously high price has the potential to bankrupt Medicare, the American people and our entire health care system.
We cannot allow that to happen. A prescription drug is not safe or effective for a patient who cannot afford it.
The HELP Committee will do everything that it can to make sure that the American people no longer pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
