WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., renewed his criticism of drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday, claiming that the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies have told him that they can produce and sell its blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic for less than $100 a month.
Sanders made the remark at an expert roundtable event on Capitol Hill, which served as a preview to Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen's testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next week. In June, Jorgensen agreed to testify over the pricing of Ozempic in the U.S.
, as well as that of the drugmaker's hugely popular weight loss drug Wegovy. Sanders, who chairs the Senate committee, opened an investigation into Novo Nordisk’s pricing practices in April. Novo Nordisk charges around $1,300 a month for Wegovy in the U.
S., even though the drug can be purchased for $186 a month in Denmark, $137 in Germany and $92 in the United Kingdom, according to a committee report. During Tuesday's roundtable, Sanders said his recent conversations with generic drugmakers revealed that Novo Nordisk's pricing is "nothing less than excess corporate greed.
" “They have studied the math, and they tell me that they can sell a generic version of Ozempic, the exact same drug that Novo Nordisk is manufacturing, to Americans for less than $100 a month," Sanders said. "Less than 10% of what Americans are currently paying." Sanders’ office declined to say which generic drug compan.