Senate HELP Committee, Sanders Investigating Novo Nordisk Price Gouging in US

A Senate committee has demanded answers from Danish pharma Novo Nordisk on what it labels “astronomically” high prices for the company’s Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide) diabetes/weight loss drugs, while a report points to weight loss drugs as the driver for a massive spike in drug spending.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), has informed Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen in a scathing letter that charging Americans up to $1,349 a month for a drug costing less than $5 to manufacture cannot continue, and his congressional examination is underway.

Sanders also charged the company with a double-dipping scenario, claiming it has two different prices for the exact same drug under different branding. “Semaglutide for diabetes is marketed as Ozempic, while semaglutide for weight management is marketed as Wegovy,” wrote Sanders. “Novo Nordisk charges Americans with obesity nearly $400 more every month than those with type 2 diabetes for the same product provided in similar doses.”

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