Bernie Sanders Accuses Ozempic Manufacturer of Massive Price Gouging: ‘People Are Sick and Tired of Being Ripped Off!’
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called for the price of weight loss drugs to be lowered following a study suggesting drugs like Ozempic can be made for a few dollars a month, but have a cost for buyers that can reach $1000.
Sanders is calling for Novo Nordisk to drop their U.S. prices more in line with other countries. The senator appeared on MSNBC with Ana Cabrera on Tuesday and expressed outrage with the pharmaceutical industry.
Bloomberg previously reported on the study:
Ozempic could be profitably produced for less than $5 a month even as maker Novo Nordisk A/S charges almost $1,000 in the US, according to a study that revives questions about prices for top-selling treatments for diabetes and obesity.
The blockbuster drug could be manufactured for 89 cents to $4.73 for a month’s supply, figures that include a profit margin, researchers at Yale University, King’s College Hospital in London and the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders reported in the journal JAMA Network Open. That compares to the monthly US list price of $968.52 for Ozempic, a weekly injection.
“My reaction to the study is that Novo Nordisk has got to substantially lower the price they’re charging Americans for two reasons. Number one, you have millions of Americans who are dealing with diabetes, dealing with obesity, not being able to afford this medicine that could really help them,” Sanders said in reaction on Tuesday. “And number two, Ana, if we don’t get a handle on this price, Medicare and Medicaid are going to be spending enormous sums of money which are going to fall back on the taxpayers of this country. Bottom line is, they should not be charging us over a thousand dollars for this product a month when they’re charging people in Germany $59, charging people in Canada $155. The American people, in my view, no matter what your political view may be, are sick and tired of being ripped off by drug companies and paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs including Ozempic.”
Nordick released a statement to MSNBC defending the pricing of their drug, suggesting the pricing is being oversimplified.
“It’s easy to oversimplify the science that goes into understanding disease and developing and producing new treatments, as well as the intricacies of U.S. and global healthcare systems. However, the public debate doesn’t always take into account this extremely complex reality,” the company said.
They said they are “committed” to working with policy makers to lower prescription drug costs and that a “majority” of U.S. patients with health insurance pay just $25 a month.
Sanders called for the federal government to be more involved in negotiating prescription drug prices and blasted D.C. lobbyists working on behalf of drug companies.
“They have over 1800 well-paid lobbyists in Washington D.C. right now, former leaders of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, they’re very nonpartisan,” he said. “They will give money to anybody.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
