SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
bernie sanders
Sanders Rips Pharma Giant for Charging $900+ for Drug That Could Be Sold for $100
"Why? Excessive corporate greed," said Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sep 17, 2024
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders called out the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk on Tuesday for charging American patients more than $900 a month for the increasingly popular diabetes drug Ozempic, even though generic manufacturers are willing to sell the medication for significantly less.
During a panel discussion with experts, Sanders (I-Vt.) said he and his staff have been in contact with the top executives of major drug makers who say they could sell a generic version of Ozempic for less than $100 a month—and still turn a profit. A recent study found that the drug can be manufactured for less than $5 a month.
"Novo Nordisk, which has made nearly $50 billion in sales off of Ozempic and Wegovy, charges Americans almost $1,000 a month—the highest prices in the world," Sanders, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said Tuesday. "Why? Excessive corporate greed."
Ozempic and Wegovy are part of a class of treatments known as GLP-1s. Wegovy, a weight-loss drug that Novo Nordisk sells for $1,349 a month in the U.S., contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic, which is approved only for people with Type 2 diabetes.
The drugs' growing popularity in the U.S. has drawn greater scrutiny to Novo Nordisk's pricing. Sanders' office noted Tuesday that the company's price tag for Wegovy is $186 in Denmark, $140 in Germany, and $92 in the United Kingdom.
Novo Nordisk's high prices for the drugs in the U.S. could have far-reaching impacts on the nation's healthcare system. A group of economists wrote in a recent op-ed for The New York Times earlier this year that "under reasonable assumptions and at current prices, making this class of drugs available to all obese Americans could eventually cost over $1 trillion per year," which is "almost as much as the government spends on the entireMedicare program and almost one-fifth of the entire amount America spends on healthcare."
Sanders warned Tuesday that if the prices of Ozempic and Wegovy aren't reined in, Medicare premiums could surge.
"Our healthcare system, I think most people understand, is in crisis," Sanders said during the panel discussion. "The business model of the pharmaceutical industry is unsustainable."
Over the course of our investigation into the outrageous cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in the U.S., I spoke with the CEOs of major generic pharmaceutical companies who confirmed:
They can sell a generic version of Ozempic for $100/mo. https://t.co/XDHdBRPIcM
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 17, 2024
Peter Maybarduk, director of the Access to Medicines Program at Public Citizen, said in a statement Tuesday that "all we need to make Ozempic for $100 a reality is to overcome Novo's patent monopoly, which the government has the power to do any time."
"States and clinicians are asking the feds for help," said Maybarduk. "We estimate taking action on Novo's patents could save Medicare more than $14 billion in the first two years of competition, while making diabetes and obesity drugs affordable."
Last month, Public Citizen delivered a petition to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra urging him to use existing law to "authorize generic competitors to Ozempic and Wegovy."
"Novo Nordisk’s outrageous pricing of [Ozempic and Wegovy] threatens to break the coffers of federal health programs," the group wrote. "Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1498, the administration should authorize use of any and all patents necessary to allow manufacturers to produce generic alternatives to these treatments on behalf of the United States government, which can be used to supply Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal health programs. This will facilitate competition and make the treatments more affordable and accessible for patients."
The CEO of Novo Nordisk, which has spent aggressively on lobbying this year, is scheduled to testify before the Senate HELP Committee next week.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Ahead of Senate Hearing, Doctors Decry 'Exorbitant' Cost of Ozempic and Wegovy
"Too often, because manufacturers are pricing out my patients, I have to resort to treatment options that are less effective and less safe," one doctor said.
Sep 16, 2024
As the U.S. Senate prepares for a hearing on Novo Nordisk overcharging Americans for Ozempic and Wegovy, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday released a letter from 253 health professionals asking Congress to take on the "exorbitant prices set by manufacturers" for non-insulin diabetes and weight loss medications.
The clinicians wrote that drugs including "semaglutide (marketed by Novo Nordisk as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss) and... tirzapetide (marketed by Eli Lilly as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss) have been revolutionary in the management of chronic conditions of diabetes and obesity."
"However, even the most transformative medications cannot help our patients if they cannot afford them," states the letter, which is addressed to Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the panel's ranking member.
"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."
"Studies have shown that semaglutide can be manufactured for as little as nearly $5 per month, substantially lower than the current U.S. list price of $968 for Ozempic or $1,349 per month for Wegovy," the letter notes. "In contrast, Novo Nordisk has set the price of Wegovy at $92 in the United Kingdom and $186 in Denmark, clearly demonstrating that these drugs are being priced unfairly for our U.S. patients."
The health providers stressed that "for patients, these are not one-off prices they shoulder, but potentially lifelong costs they will need to consider. For obesity, the drugs work while patients take them, but once off treatment, studies have found that patients regain the weight."
"Patients in the U.S. face multiple hurdles in accessing the drugs, which we as prescribers do our best to help them navigate," they explained, detailing issues faced by people who have private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid coverage, and no insurance. "Lack of coverage, supply shortages, and the unreasonable sticker prices of these medications are pushing patients to consider alternative options, which are often unsafe."
"We want our patients to be able to access medications that can improve their health and quality of life, but we do not want to rob the American taxpayers to line the pockets of the pharmaceutical manufacturers," the clinicians concluded. "Senators, we are asking you to do everything in your power to bring down the price of these novel diabetes and obesity drugs. Our patients deserve to have the best options available to them at a fair price."
Echoing the letter in a Monday statement, Dr. Kasia Lipska, a practicing endocrinologist and diabetes researcher at the Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut, said that "the exorbitant prices that manufacturers are asking my patients to pay for these novel diabetes and obesity medications are simply unacceptable."
"Too often, because manufacturers are pricing out my patients, I have to resort to treatment options that are less effective and less safe," Lipska continued. "These are life-changing treatments that should be available to my patients and everyone who needs them, not just those who can afford to pay."
Dr. Elizabeth Dewey, another letter signatory who practices family medicine in Greensboro, North Carolina, said that in her state, "we have been struggling all year with lack of coverage for weight loss medications."
"When our state plan and large employers dropped coverage for weight loss medications earlier this year, patients were left without treatment," Dewey explained. "Those who wanted to continue on the medications could pay cash. But for most patients, paying hundreds of dollars without insurance coverage is not affordable. Even with drug company coupons or discounts on certain doses, these treatments are still unattainable for most of my patients."
Sanders, who launched a probe into Denmark-based Novo Nordisk back in April, welcomed the letter, saying that "doctors across this country are sick and tired of seeing their patients ripped off by giant pharmaceutical companies."
"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," he argued. "Novo Nordisk also charges Americans with obesity $1,349 a month for Wegovy, while this same exact product can be purchased for just $140 in Germany."
"Doctors agree," he added. "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."
The Senate HELP Committee hearing on Capitol Hill is scheduled for 10:00 am on Tuesday, September 24.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Sanders Urges DOJ Probe Into Israeli Killing of American Activist Ayşenur Eygi
"The U.S. cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of the extremist Israeli government," the senator said.
Sep 13, 2024
Days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled that there would be no U.S. inquiry into Israel's killing of Turkish American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday called on the Department of Justice to open an investigation of the young campaigner's death.
Eygi, a 26-year-old activist with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and recent graduate from the University of Washington, was shot in the head, allegedly by an IDF sniper, during a September 6 demonstration in Beita against Israel's illegal apartheid settlements. Eyewitnesses said Israeli forces killed Eygi with "a deliberate shot to the head."
"There will be no accountability if the United States defers to the extremist Israeli government to investigate its own actions."
Sanders noted that both U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, both called for "full accountability" for Eygi's killers.
"Let's be clear: There will be no accountability if the United States defers to the extremist Israeli government to investigate its own actions," he said in a statement.
Sanders continued:
There was no accountability when 17-year-old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, an American citizen from Louisiana, was shot and killed in January. He was a senior in high school.
There was no accountability when another 17-year-old American, Mohammad Khdour from Florida, was shot and killed in February.
There was no accountability when Dylan Collins, an American journalist for Agence France-Presse, was targeted by Israeli tank fire in October. Six journalists were wounded in the attack, which killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah. The group was clearly marked as press.
There was no accountability when American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot in the head by the Israeli military in May 2022. She was also clearly marked as press.
And there was no accountability when another American, 78-year-old Omar Assad, died after being bound and gagged by Israeli security forces.
"None of these Americans were armed," Sanders stressed. "None of them posed a threat."
Sanders also mentioned the hundreds of Palestinians—including more than 140 children—who have been killed by Israeli occupation forces and settler colonists in the West Bank since October.
"There has been no accountability for repeated Israeli settler attacks, enabled by security forces, on Palestinian towns and villages," he said. "No meaningful response to the burning of Palestinian homes and businesses."
"This is a clear pattern," Sanders contended. "These are not mistakes. This is policy: Shoot first, ask no questions later."
"These are not mistakes. This is policy: Shoot first, ask no questions later."
"By continuing to credulously accept the explanations of an extremist Israeli government whose stated goal is to annex the West Bank and push Palestinians off their land, the United States makes a mockery of its values and abdicates its responsibility to investigate and respond to attacks on its citizens," the senator said.
"The U.S. Justice Department must open its own, independent investigations into these attacks on American citizens by the Israeli security forces," he asserted. "The FBI should immediately collect testimony and forensic evidence. And President Biden must act to bring real pressure to bear to change Israeli policy."
"The United States cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the illegal actions of the extremist Israeli government," Sanders added. "We cannot allow American citizens and innocent Palestinians to be killed with impunity. We must act."
Sanders' admonition came a day after a trio of Democratic U.S. lawmakers from Washington state—Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal—demanded the Biden administration investigate Eygi's death.
The parents of Rachel Corrie—a 23-year-old American ISM activist who was crushed to death by a U.S.-supplied bulldozer while trying to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in 2003—this week also called for an independent investigation into Eygi's killing.
While admitting that it is "highly likely" that Israeli troops killed Eygi, IDF officials called the killing "unintentional," claiming the fatal shot "was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of... a violent riot in which dozens of Palestinian suspects burned tires and hurled rocks" at occupation forces.
Biden came under fire for repeating Israel's claim, with observers noting that time and again, journalistic and other investigations have concluded that Israeli forces deliberately targeted their victims.
In stark contrast to the U.S. response to Eygi's killing, Turkey—of which she was also a citizen—said it would seek international arrest warrants for whoever shot her.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is trying to obtain arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and a trio of Hamas leaders—at least one of whom has been assassinated.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular