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WASHINGTON — Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen faced a tense Senate hearing on Tuesday over the high prices of the company’s weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic, as demand for both injections soars in the U.S.
Jørgensen did not explicitly promise lawmakers at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., that he would slash prices for the two drugs.
Jørgensen did say he wants to work with them on policy solutions that will address the “structural issues” that drive up prescription drug costs. He also committed to sitting down with pharmacy benefit managers – middlemen who negotiate drug rebates with manufacturers on behalf of insurers – to “collaborate on anything that helps patients get access and affordability.”
That pledge came after Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who chairs the Senate panel, said he received commitments in writing from all of the major PBMs that they would not limit coverage of Wegovy and Ozempic if Novo Nordisk reduced their list prices. The hearing comes roughly five months after Sanders opened an investigation into the drugmaker’s pricing practices.
“All we are saying, Mr. Jørgensen, is treat the American people the same way that you treat people all over the world,” Sanders said during the hearing Tuesday. “Stop ripping us off.”
Sanders did get Jørgensen to agree to meet with PBMs to discuss lowering the cost of Ozempic and Wegovy, NBC News reported.
