WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) today released the following statement after the Biden administration announced that diabetes and weight-loss drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy, would be added to the list of prescription drugs for which Medicare negotiates prices.
I welcome the Biden administration’s announcement that Medicare will finally begin to negotiate the price of Ozempic and Wegovy.
Today’s announcement is very timely. Just this month, Novo Nordisk outrageously and unacceptably raised the price of Ozempic to nearly $1,000 a month, which is up to 15 times higher than what people in Europe pay. This comes after the CEO of Novo Nordisk committed to work with the major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to lower the price of this lifesaving drug.
The American people are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prescription drug prices in the world.
Last year, under my Chairmanship, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions launched an investigation into the outrageously high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy.
We asked one fundamental question: Why does Novo Nordisk charge the American people, by far, the highest prices in the world for Ozempic and Wegovy?
Today’s announcement means Americans may finally get a better deal on Ozempic and Wegovy — but only if Trump does not walk away from the negotiating table.
In the past, Trump has said drug companies are “getting away with murder” and that he would “ensure that our country gets the same low price Big Pharma gives to other countries.”
The question is: will Trump make sure that all Americans — not just those on Medicare — pay no more than people in other countries for Ozempic and Wegovy? Or will Trump back down on his commitment and continue to allow the pharmaceutical industry to get away with murder by taking away the government’s power to negotiate prices? We will soon find out.
In September, Sanders led the HELP Committee in a hearing to examine why Novo Nordisk charges the American people the highest prices in the world for its life-saving drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Epidemiologists have estimated that more than 40,000 lives per year could be saved if Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs were made affordable and widely available in the U.S.
In May, HELP Committee Majority Staff released a report that modeled how new weight loss drugs could impact prescription drug spending, even while taking into account estimated manufacturer discounts. Key findings from the report include:
If half of adults with obesity took Wegovy and the other new weight loss drugs, it could cost $411 billion per year – more than what Americans spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022 ($406 billion).
If half of all Medicare and Medicaid patients who are obese took Wegovy and other weight loss drugs, Medicare and Medicaid could spend $166 billion per year – rivaling what Medicare and Medicaid spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022 ($175 billion).
Unless prices are substantially reduced, Wegovy and other weight loss drugs could push Americans to spend $1 trillion per year on all prescription drugs.
If Novo Nordisk, a Danish company, charged Americans the same price it charges people in Denmark for Wegovy, the U.S. health care system could save up to $317 billion dollars per year – if half of adults with obesity took the drug. Taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid alone could save $128 billion per year.
If Novo Nordisk dropped the price of Wegovy in the U.S down to the price in Denmark, the U.S. health care system could pay for new weight loss drugs for 100% of adults with obesity for less than the cost of covering 25% of the population with obesity at current U.S. net prices annually.
