Senator Bernie Sanders ( I - VT ) is contain aim at one of Big Pharma ’s novel cash oxen : the modish generation of effective fleshiness medications . On Wednesday , Sanders ’ officeannouncedthat the senator is launching an investigation into Novo Nordisk over the “ astronomically high ” list prices of their drug Wegovy and Ozempic . Both drugs can cost around $ 1,000 a month or more without policy coverage .
Wegovy and Ozempic are made with the same active fixings , semaglutide , which is a long - lasting mimicker of the endocrine GLP-1 . Ozempic was okay in 2017 to process type 2 diabetes , while Wegovy was approved in 2021 to treat obesity . Though not formally approved for obesity , Ozempic has become more and more dictate off - label for it . In clinical trials , those taking Wegovy have lose on average 15 % of their baseline weight — well above the distinctive success get wind with dieting and exercise alone or with elderly medications .
The years since Wegovy ’s approval have solidified its effectiveness as a treatment forweight red and beyond . Clinical trial have find that GLP-1 therapy can boil down the jeopardy of complication bind to obesity , such as philia and kidney disease , and some study have suggested that it may even help reduce the great unwashed ’s unhealthful cravings for alcohol and other drugs . In November 2023 , Eli Lilly ’s tirzepatide was approve for treating obesity . This drug , which enhances its effectiveness by combining GLP-1 with another hormone , has importantly reinforced the potential of thisdrug classas a whole .
Senator Bernie Sanders at a rally in Boston on 20 May 2025.Image: Lauryn Allen (Shutterstock)
telling as these drugs have been , though , they have n’t come gaudy , at least in the U.S. In term of list price , a provision of Ozempic can run close to $ 1,000 a calendar month , while Wegovy can cost over $ 1,300 a calendar month . While some user are golden enough to make up much less , insurance reporting of these drug has been spotty and often short - live on . in high spirits list Price also burden public payers like Medicare , which can lead to drug rationing and restrictive criterion for patient eligibility ( Medicare is explicitly barred from cover corpulency medications in universal , but such drugs can be hide if they do by another approved condition , such as type 2 diabetes or heart disease ) . And in many other countries , the out - of - pocket costs are substantially lower .
It ’s this disparity that Sanders , in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Health , Education , Labor , and Pensions ( HELP ) Committee , is hoping to address .
“ The scientist at Novo Nordisk merit great credit entry for developing these drug that have the voltage to be a game auto-changer for millions of Americans struggling with character 2 diabetes and corpulency . As crucial as these drugs are , they will not do any good for the millions of patient who can not open them , ” Sander wrote in hisletterinforming Novo Nordisk of the committee ’s investigating .
Sanders notes that Novo Nordisk made over $ 12 billion in profits last year , a 76 % jump from 2021 , which was largely made possible by the arrival of Wegovy . And while drug Creator are for certain entitled to reimburse the healthy sums of money needed to research and develop their products , Sanders argues that the ship’s company is Leontyne Price - gouging Americans in particular . Ozempic and Wegovy can cost around $ 100 to $ 150 in countries such as Germany and the U.K. A recent subject field from Yale researcher and others also estimated that a month ’s supply of Ozempiccould be manufacturedfor less than five dollar a month , even allow for for some profit margin .
The high prices , wretched insurance reporting , and even shortfall of the drugs has help further a growing black mart for them to boot . People can pay substantially less for compounded or counterfeit adaptation of semaglutide ( around $ 200 to $ 300 a month ) , though with no warranty of its safety and effectiveness . And there havealready been reportsof people getting suffer as a upshot .
collapse the rising popularity of these medications and the likely patient cornerstone ( more than 40 % of adult Americans are rotund ) , Sanders is also distressed about how these high costs will affect the stability of local and federal public payer organisation , such as Medicare , move forward .
“ [ I]f the prices for these mathematical product are not substantially melt off , they have the potential difference to ruin Medicare , Medicaid and our entire health care organisation . The United States Congress and the federal government can not allow that to bump , ” Sanders wrote in his letter .
Among other things , the citizens committee ’s investigation will enquire Novo Nordisk to allow for detail on how its terms for both drug were determined as well as an accounting of the expenditures needed to play them to the market .
Bernie SandersEli LillyMedicationNovo NordiskPeptide hormonesSemaglutideSocial Issues
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