US Senator Sanders says generic drugmakers may promote Ozempic for lower than $100/month By Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders stated on Tuesday he acquired affirmation from main generic pharmaceutical corporations that they may promote copycat variations of Novo Nordisk (NYSE:)’s diabetes drug Ozempic for lower than $100 a month.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen is ready to testify earlier than the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions (HELP), which Sanders chairs, in a listening to subsequent week specializing in U.S. costs for its broadly standard Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy.

KEY QUOTE

Sanders stated he spoke to the chief executives of a number of main generic drugmakers over the previous few months.

“They’ve studied the matter and so they inform me that they will promote a generic model of Ozempic, the very same drug that Novo Nordisk is manufacturing, to People for lower than $100 per thirty days,” he stated.

Sanders didn’t title the businesses to which he spoke. Ozempic’s patent will not be set to run out in america till 2032.

CONTEXT

Ozempic, which has the identical lively ingredient as Wegovy and is used off-label for weight reduction, belongs to the favored GLP-1 class, which has seen overwhelming demand in america.

Some analysts have forecast the full marketplace for weight-loss medicine to succeed in $150 billion by the early 2030s.

Nonetheless, this comes amid criticism from lawmakers over the excessive prices related to these medicines.

BY THE NUMBERS

A month’s provide of Novo’s Ozempic carries a U.S. listing worth of $935.77 whereas Wegovy lists for $1,349.02 per thirty days, based on the drugmaker’s web site, though most customers pay much less.