US Congress calls on Novo Nordisk to lower drug prices [Video]

The boss of the Danish pharmaceutical giant behind the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy promised Tuesday to examine lowering their prices in the United States, after coming under pressure from Congress.

The stakes are high for US patients, some of whom have difficulty accessing and affording the drugs under the often unwieldy and expensive health care system in the United States.

“If not made affordable, Americans throughout this country will needlessly die,” left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders told Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen at a congressional hearing.

“Ozempic is sold in Canada for $155, in Denmark for $122, in France for $71, and in Germany for $59. In the United States, Novo Nordisk charges us $969,” Sanders continued.

Ozempic was originally developed as a drug to treat diabetes. Wegovy, which targets weight loss, sells for $1,349 a month in the United States, nearly 15 times as much …