hapabapa/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Novo Nordisk ( NVO ) is reportedly set to meet with U.S. Senate aides on Tuesday to discuss why the drugmaker is discontinuing marketing its long-acting insulin Levemir in the U.
S. The Danish drugmaker is believed to be meeting with aides from the offices of Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Raphael Warnock and Jeanne Shaheen.
The senators wrote a letter to the drugmaker in April expressing their alarm over the decision, according to Reuters . Novo ( NVO ) announced last November it was discontinuing Levemir due to manufacturing constraints, patient access issues and the availability of alternative medications such as its insulin product Tresiba. In a letter dated in May, Novo ( NVO ) said it would not assert patents to prevent production of a biosimilar version of the product, Reuters added.
Reuters said a Novo ( NVO ) spokesperson denied a meeting was scheduled. The meeting was confirmed, however, Sen. Shaheen’s office.
The offices of Sens. Warren and Warnock did not respond for comment. In April, the senators issued a statement calling on Novo ( NVO ) to continue manufacturing Levemir for the U.
S. market until a biosimilar is available. “Access to affordable, in-demand biosimilar insulins will be further restricted by Novo Nordisk’s decision to discontinue Levemir, as discontinuation creates significant barriers to demonstrating biosimilarity without a sample to reference,” the senators added in their statement.
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