By: Lauren Gardner, David Lim; Politico
Senate HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) scored another win in his latest battle with the drug industry, getting Novo Nordisk’s CEO to agree to testify about his company’s pricing for in-demand diabetes and weight-loss drugs.
Flying solo: Sanders spokesperson Anna Bahr said the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s big win was CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen agreeing to testify solo instead of with pharmacy benefit manager representatives and other pharma executives.
Novo agreed to send Jørgensen to the Hill in early September, a retreat from the company’s initial bid to have him testify during the last days of the Senate session before lawmakers hit the campaign trail. Still, this was a compromise from Sanders’ original bid to bring a company official before the panel on July 10.
The background: The deal announced late Friday avoids a subpoena vote that had been scheduled for Tuesday and will bring Jørgensen to Capitol Hill as the sole witness at a hearing on the drug class that includes Novo’s Ozempic and Wegovy, which are both in short supply in the U.S. because of high demand.
Patients in European countries pay 10 to 15 times less for the drugs, though the cost of American consumers’ prescription meds also depends on rebates and other discounts negotiated among drugmakers, pharmacy benefit managers and insurers.
Sanders likely had sufficient Democratic support to issue a subpoena to compel testimony, which was targeted toward a different Novo executive who leads the company’s North American operations. Some level of GOP backing also wasn’t out of the question; Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) indicated to Lauren that he was open to supporting the subpoena, and he expressed similar sentiments when Sanders threatened action against other pharma executives earlier this year.
What’s next: When asked whether Sanders will turn his attention to Eli Lilly, the company behind competitor GLP-1s Mounjaro and Zepbound, Bahr said Sanders has nothing to announce yet. But she noted that he’s said his efforts to uncover why the diabetes and weight-loss drugs are so expensive aren’t targeted specifically at Novo Nordisk.
