Senate hearing to examine Ozempic and Wegovy prices

Novo Nordisk (NVO) CEO Lars Jørgensen told lawmakers Tuesday he was willing to sit down with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to discuss a lower price for Wegovy and Ozempic, the company's blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs, respectively, in order to expand access to the drugs. The drugs, known as GLP-1s, have brought in $50 billion in revenue for Novo Nordisk year to date alone, but the high prices ($1,349 for Wegovy and $968 for Ozempic) have put them out of reach for many Americans, especially for the weight-loss drugs, due to limited coverage by insurers. For over two hours, Jørgensen faced policymakers led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to defend the drugs' prices. On one hand, Jørgensen contends that research and development costs and the rebates paid to PBMs —$0.74 for every dollar — are key parts of a drug's list price. Jørgensen also emphasized that, unlike American pharmaceutical companies, the Danish drugmaker is owned by a large nonprofit "rivaling the Gates Foundation," and therefore, its incentive is not to please shareholders. "I don't think we set our price in a way where we just look at our shareholders," he said. Jørgensen noted that Novo has already discounted the net price of Ozempic by 40% since launching in 2017. About Yahoo Finance: Yahoo Finance provides free stock ticker data, up-to-date news, portfolio management resources, comprehensive market data, advanced tools, and more information to help you manage your financial life. For more on this article, please visit: finance.yahoo.com/news/novo-nordisk-ceo-grilled-by… - Get the latest news and data at finance.yahoo.com - Download the Yahoo Finance app on Apple (apple.co/3Rten0R) or Android (bit.ly/3t8UnXO) - Follow Yahoo Finance on social: X: twitter.com/YahooFinance Instagram: www.instagram.com/yahoofinance/?hl=en TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@yahoofinance?lang=en Facebook: www.facebook.com/yahoofinance/ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/yahoo-finance

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