Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., says the first question he is going to ask Novo Nordisk's CEO at a Senate committee hearing in September is why the drugmaker charges up to 10 or 15 times more for Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States , compared to other countries.
“This is absurd,” Sanders told NBC News in an interview late Tuesday. “It is clear that Novo Nordisk is ripping off the American people.” Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen has agreed to testify in September over the pricing of the drugmaker’s hugely popular weight loss drugs, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions announced Friday.
It came three days after Sanders, who chairs the committee, threatened to hold a vote to subpoena Novo Nordisk President Doug Langa to provide testimony. In a separate statement, a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said that Jørgensen agreed after he and Sanders had "a productive call and agreed to find a mutually acceptable date for a hearing." Sanders said Tuesday that he is still working with Novo Nordisk to set an exact date for the hearing, but he expects it will be during the second week of September.
He said his strategy for getting Novo Nordisk to reduce the cost of the drugs is simple: Put the company in the spotlight. “I think enough public pressure may result in them lowering their prices substantially, which is obviously what my goal is,” the senator said. “This is a huge issue because it is likely that Ozempic and Wegovy may end up .