Novo Nordisk Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen faced sharp bipartisan questioning on Capitol Hill as he testified before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) regarding the stark price differences Americans pay for blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medications.
Committee Chairman Senator Bernie Sanders opened the hearing by brandishing price charts showing that semaglutide drugs Ozempic and Wegovy carry list prices of approximately $969 and $1,349 per month in the United States, compared to $59 in Germany, $92 in the United Kingdom, and $83 in France.
Bipartisan Scrutiny Over Glaring Transatlantic Price Disparities
Sanders asserted that exorbitant American prices threaten to bankrupt public healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, while forcing millions of uninsured and underinsured citizens to forgo life-saving treatments that prevent strokes, kidney failure, and cardiovascular events.
Jørgensen mounted a spirited defense of the Danish pharmaceutical giant, insisting that Novo Nordisk retains only a fraction of the sticker price after paying substantial rebates—often exceeding 70% to 80%—to American healthcare intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs).
“We want nothing more than for patients to have affordable access to our medicines. But in the unique US healthcare system, if we lower list prices, PBMs often drop our treatments from insurance formularies entirely.”
The Clash Over Pharmacy Benefit Managers and Formulary Access
The hearing escalated when Senator Sanders revealed written commitments secured from chief executives of the three dominant PBMs—CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx—pledging that they would not restrict access to Wegovy if Novo Nordisk lowered its list price.
Jørgensen responded cautiously to the letters, expressing willingness to engage in direct discussions with the PBMs and lawmakers, but emphasizing that systemic federal healthcare reform is required to ensure that discounts directly reach patients at the pharmacy counter.
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