PREPARED REMARKS: Sanders Hosts Experts Discussion and Announces New Information on the Production and Pricing of Blockbuster Diabetes and Weight-Loss Drugs Ozempic and Wegovy

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), today held a discussion with experts on the outrageously high cost of diabetes and weight-loss drugs in America. At the meeting – which comes ahead of the committee hearing Sanders will be leading next week on the same issue – Sanders announced new information about discussions he has had with major pharma companies on the production and pricing of blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.

Sanders’ opening remarks, as prepared for delivery, are below and can be watched HERE:

Let me thank everyone for being here today.

Before I get to Novo Nordisk and the high prices they charge for Ozempic and Wegovy I wanted to put this discussion into a broader context. 

Fact: The people of the United States pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

I personally, on two occasions, have led Americans into Canada where we purchased on one occasion a breast cancer drug and on another occasion insulin for one-tenth, one-tenth, the price Americans were paying for the same exact drug.

Overall, the best estimate is that we spend nearly three times what people in other countries pay for the exact same drug.

The result of this absurd reality is that while ten top pharmaceutical companies made over $110 billion in profits last year, 1 out of 4 Americans cannot afford the medicine their doctors prescribe.

How insane is that?  People are sick.  They go to the doctor.  They get a diagnosis.  And they cannot afford the treatment.  As a result, people die and we lose tens of thousands of people unnecessarily because of the high cost of health care in this country.

And, incredibly, we end up wasting huge amounts of healthcare dollars  because people who can’t afford their prescription drugs end up in emergency rooms or in hospital beds for what could have been an easily preventable illness.

And when we understand that in America we are spending $13,500 per person on health care, double what almost any other country spends, we also understand that one of the reasons is the high cost of prescription drugs.

The outrageous cost of prescription drugs in this country drives up hospital bills, and private insurance costs.  It also has a huge impact on taxpayer expenditures in terms of what we spend on Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs.

Our healthcare system is in crisis.  The business model of the pharmaceutical industry is unsustainable.  We need real change.

Now let me say a few words about Novo Nordisk, Ozempic and Wegovy – prescription drugs that may be the best selling drugs of all time.

Next Tuesday (one week from today) the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that I chair will be holding a hearing on the outrageously high prices Novo Nordisk is charging Americans struggling with diabetes and obesity for Ozempic and Wegovy.

Today, I am delighted to be holding this roundtable discussion with people who have worked tirelessly on the need to substantially lower the price of these drugs and to make them available to everyone who needs them.

In a few minutes we will be hearing from:

• Kristen Whitney, a patient who was forced to ration Ozempic because she could not afford the price of this drug;
• Dr. Reshma, a physician who works at a Community Health Center in Connecticut who will talk about what the high prices of these drugs means to her patients;
• Dale Folwell, the Treasurer of the State of North Carolina who had to stop covering Wegovy for his state employees because of the outrageously high price;
• Dr. Melissa Barber, an economist from Yale who has done extensive research on the manufacturing costs of Ozempic; and
• Dr. Alison Galvani, also of Yale, who has done extensive research in determining how many thousands of lives could be saved if Wegovy and weight-loss drugs were made widely available.

Let us be clear: Novo Nordisk charges Americans with type 2 diabetes $969 a month for Ozempic, while this same exact drug can be purchased for just $59 in Germany, $71 in France, $122 in Denmark and $155 in Canada.

Novo Nordisk charges Americans with obesity $1,349 a month for Wegovy, while this same product can be purchased for just $92 in the United Kingdom, $137 in Germany, $186 in Denmark and $265 in Canada.

The scientists at Novo Nordisk deserve great credit for developing these drugs that have the potential to be a real game changer for millions of Americans struggling with type 2 diabetes and obesity.  And I thank them for their hard work in creating these drugs.

But, as important and groundbreaking as these drugs are, they will not do any good for the millions of people who cannot afford them.

A drug, no matter how great it may be, does not mean a thing if you can’t afford to buy the product.

But not only are we concerned about lack of access to these drugs we have got to take a hard look at the financial implications of what happens if the prices of these drugs are not substantially reduced.

Bottom line: If half of the adults in our country with obesity took Wegovy and the other new weight loss drugs like Zepbound, the cost would be astronomical and have a devastating financial impact on our country and on federal and state budgets.

The best estimate that I have seen suggests that if half of the adults in our country took these weight loss drugs, it would cost $411 billion per year.  That is $5 billion more than what Americans spent on all prescription drugs at the pharmacy counter in 2022.

In other words, the outrageously high price of these drugs could bankrupt Medicare while radically increasing insurance premiums to absolutely unaffordable rates.

The HELP Committee has heard concerns from across the country about the financial impact of these drugs.

One of the largest health insurance companies in the country told me they would have to double premiums for all of its policy holders if it covered Wegovy and Ozempic for all eligible patients.

In June, the largest insurer in Michigan, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, was forced to drop coverage for weight loss drugs because of the high prices.

And now let me take this opportunity to share something extremely important with you that I have learned over the last couple of months. 

The outrageously high prices that we are paying for Ozempic and Wegovy do not have to be.

They are not based on the cost of production or the establishment of a fair rate of return on their research and development.  They are based on nothing less than excessive corporate greed.

So, let me tell you what I’ve been doing.

For the last several months, I and my staff have had a series of conversations with the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies.

These are large companies that today supply hundreds of millions of prescriptions to many millions of Americans.

And what the CEOs of these companies have told me is something of enormous consequence. 

They have studied the matter and they tell me that they can sell a generic version of Ozempic, the exact same drug that Novo Nordisk is manufacturing, to Americans for less than $100 per month. That’s right.

Novo Nordisk charges us $969 a month.  These generic companies can sell this product for less than $100 a month – less than ten percent of what Americans are currently paying.

So let me summarize and conclude.  Novo Nordisk, which has made nearly $50 billion in sales off of Ozempic and Wegovy, charges us the highest prices in the world for these products, in some cases, over ten times what they charge people in other countries. 

The result is that:

• Millions of Americans with diabetes and obesity will not be able to afford these life-saving products. 
• Medicare could literally go bankrupt if it were forced to pay the prices Novo Nordisk is asking.
• And insurance rates that are so very high today could double if these weight loss drugs were covered for everyone who needs them.

And now we learn that major and well-established pharmaceutical companies could sell these products in America for less than 10 percent of what Novo Nordisk is charging us.

In July, President Biden and I co-authored an op-ed in USA Today.  And this is what we said: “If Novo Nordisk and other pharmaceutical companies refuse to substantially lower prescription drug prices in our country and end their greed, we will do everything within our power to end it for them.”

And what we said is exactly right.

I look forward to hearing from the CEO of Novo Nordisk, Lars Jorgensen, next week as to how he will substantially lower the prices of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States.

And, now, I’m delighted to open up this discussion to our distinguished panelists.

First, let’s turn to Kristen Whitney Daniels, who is a patient advocate with T1 International.  Kristen, the floor is yours.

Next, we will hear from Dr. Reshma, a physician who works at a Community Health Center in Connecticut, and who served as a co-chair of the Doctors for America Drug Affordability Action Team.

Now, let’s turn to Dale Folwell, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina, who is joining virtually to talk about his experience dealing with Novo Nordisk.

Next, let’s go to Dr. Melissa Barber who has done extensive research on this subject and is a health care economist at Yale University.

And finally, let’s go to Dr. Alison Galvani, the founding director of the Yale Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis and a Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.

Now, let me ask a question to all of our panelists: If Ozempic and Wegovy were available for $100, what impact do you think that would have on people who are struggling with diabetes and obesity?