Novo Nordisk A/S Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen found himself struggling to defend the price of blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy in a congressional hearing Tuesday where Senator Bernie Sanders accused the drugmaker of prioritizing profits over American lives.
In a contentious back-and-forth with the Novo CEO at the outset of the hearing, the Vermont senator pressed Jorgensen on his indirect answers and refusal to respond to his questions. Sanders then called into question whether “from a moral perspective” he was bothered by the prospect that the high prices of its drugs used for weight loss and diabetes could ultimately lead to deaths.
“What I am asking you is, if you don’t act, 40,000 people a year could die? Is this acceptable to you?” Said Sanders, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
More than 100 people packed into a hearing room on a rainy Washington morning to hear Novo’s chief face off with Sanders. Jorgensen has cautioned that reducing drugs’ list prices can carry harmful unintended consequences for patients’ ability to obtain them. When insulin list prices were reduced, some pharmacy benefit managers moved some of them off their preferred lists of drugs, making it harder for some patients to get them, the CEO said in prepared written comments that Bloomberg reported on Monday.
In his opening remarks, Sanders countered that he had talked with major managers of drug benefit programs in the US, who said that they would not limit coverage if Novo reduced the list price of the drugs.
“I am delighted to announce today that I have received commitments in writing from all the major PBMs that if Novo Nordisk substantially reduces the list price for Ozempic and Wegovy, they would not limit coverage,” Sanders said.
UnitedHealth Group Inc., Cigna Group and CVS Health Corp., all operators of drug benefits managers, committed to keeping lower-priced versions of the drugs on their preferred lists of drugs, according to letters provided by Sanders’s office. Lowering drug prices can reduce the rebates that manufacturers send to drug benefit managers.
Jorgensen said that information was news to him. “Anything that will help patients get access to affordable medicine we’ll be happy to look into,” he said.
Novo shares were little changed in Denmark. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.