The price of drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, which are used to treat diabetes and obesity, have come under the microscope at a US Senate hearing
Americans can be charged $1,349 (£1,010) for one month of the weight loss drug Wegovy, while those in the UK are charged about $92
Senator Bernie Sanders called the drugs "transformative new treatments" but said the US is "Novo Nordisk's cash cow"
Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, the chief executive of drugmaker Novo Nordisk, said the company is driven by a focus on health, not daily stock prices, and is working to expand manufacturing to meet the supply shortage faced in the US
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has opened up the hearing by slamming the US healthcare system, saying it does not properly assure Americans healthcare as a human right.
He says the high costs of drug costs in the United States is a moral failure.
He said the Danish company is treating the US as its "cash cow" by arbitrarily charging Americans exorbitantly high prices for its drugs.
The US Senate hearing has begun, with Bernie Sanders's opening remarks calling this topic of drug prices a "profound moral issue" of "corporate greed".
As a reminder, you can watch the hearing at the top of this page.
Michelle Roberts
Digital health editor
These two drugs reduce appetite by mimicking a hormone called Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) - a hormone made by the small intestine. When blood sugar starts to go up after eating food, GLP-1 encourages the body to use a hormone called insulin to lower blood sugar. These drugs do the same thing.
These drugs also slow the movement of food from the stomach into the small intestine. As a result, patients may feel full faster and longer, so they eat less.
Once they treatment is stopped, people may regain much of the weight they have lost.
Sam Hancock
A drug used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity could also slow down the process of ageing, researchers believe.
Semaglutide, better known as Ozempic or Wegovy, "has far-reaching benefits beyond what we initially imagined," Prof Harlan Krumholz, from the Yale School of Medicine, said following the publication of several new studies.
They found that the drug could be used to treat a wide range of illnesses linked to heart failure, arthritis, Alzheimer's and even cancer.
"It wouldn't surprise me that improving people's health this way actually slows down the ageing process," Prof Krumholz was quoted on Friday as telling the European Society of Cardiology Conference 2024, where the studies were presented.
The new data has been published in a number of medical journals, including the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), which Prof Krumholz edits.
Read more about the study on Ozempic’s potential to delay ageing.
You might have heard the drug names of both Ozempic and Wegovy floating around, so what’s the difference between them?
Both are made by Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, and the active ingredient in both is semaglutide.
The brand name Wegovy is used for weight loss - and Ozempic is used to treat diabetes.
It comes in the form of an injection and mimics the hormone GLP-1, making patients feel like they are fuller and lowering their appetite.
Research suggests Wegovy patients can lose more than 10% of their body weight., external
Like any medication, there can be side effects and risks - the most common being nausea, an upset stomach, bloating and gas.
Ozempic was approved for sale in the US in 2017, and in 2018 in the EU. Wegovy followed in the US in 2021, and in the EU in 2022.
Chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jørgensenhas previously acknowledged that demand for Ozempic and Wegovy was "putting strains on healthcare systems".
He said he expected the firm would be able to convince US regulators of the benefits of his company's drugs, also recently approved to treat heart disease.
"I'm optimistic about how we can communicate the value to healthcare systems of these interventions. I'm very optimistic about the underlying willingness among both patients and physicians to use these medicines," he said.
US Senator Bernie Sanders has pointedly asked why Novo Nordisk is charging Americans “10 or 15 times more for the same exact product than you’re charging people in Canada and Europe.
“Doctors across this country are sick and tired of seeing their patients ripped off by giant pharmaceutical companies,” he said in a press release., external
“There is no rational reason, other than greed, for Novo Nordisk to charge Americans with Type 2 diabetes $969 a month for Ozempic, while this same exact drug can be purchased for just $155 in Canada and just $59 in Germany.
“If Novo Nordisk does not end its greed and substantially reduce the price of these drugs, we must do everything we can to end it for them.”
Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter
Sign-ups for weight loss drug Wegovy jumped five-fold in the US in the first three months of the year, reaching a rate of more than 25,000 a week, maker Novo Nordisk has said.
Novo Nordisk said its diabetes and weight loss drugs served almost 42 million patients globally at the end of March.
The US, where about 40% of adults are classified as obese and more than 10% are estimated to have diabetes, represents by far the biggest market for the company.
But the high price of the drugs has prompted many health insurance plans in the US - including Medicare, the government plan for seniors - to restrict access.
Senator Bernie Sanders launched an investigation, external into the issue, noting that Novo Nordisk lists a monthly price of $1,349 (£1,010) for Wegovy in the US, whilst in the UK it can be purchased privately from about $92 (£140), and less for medical professionals.
The point of this Senate hearing is to dig into how much the drugs cost US patients.
In Senator Bernie Sanders's letter to chief executive Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, he says drugmaker Novo Nordisk charges $969 in the US for one month of Ozempic. He cites the cost in Canada ($155) and Germany ($59).
Sanders says Novo Nordisk is charging Americans $1349 for a month of Wegovy, but just $92 for those in the United Kingdom.
The letter from Sanders also says researchers at Yale University estimated both of these drugs “can be profitably manufactured for less than $5 a month”.
Caitlin Wilson
Live editor
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of a US Senate hearing into the cost of Ozempic and Wegovy.
There has been a surge of demand for the drugs, partially driven by celebrity endorsements and social media discussions.
Ozempic is used to treat type 2 diabetes, but the active ingredient semaglutide has also attracted significant attention for its weight loss effects. Wegovy is sold in the US as a weight loss drug. Both medications use the same ingredient.
And like many pharmaceuticals in the US, these drugs do not come cheap.
Senator Bernie Sanders initiated today’s hearing with a letter to Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s CEO.
The letter says the company charges Americans $1,349 for one month of Wegovy, but just $92 for patients in the UK.
Sanders also notes Novo Nordisk charges nearly $400 a month more for the weight loss treatment than it does for Ozempic, for what he describes as the “exact same drug”.
Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is set to appear in front of the hearing to face questions about the pricing of these drugs.
Stick with us as we follow how the hearing unfolds.