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Sen. Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday that CEOs at major generic pharma companies have told him that they are willing to sell a generic version of Ozempic for hundreds of dollars cheaper than the popular diabetes drug’s current list price.
“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 (NVO+2.53%) is manufacturing, to Americans for less than $100 a month,” Sanders said at an expert roundtable event he hosted in Capitol Hill.
Sanders, who serves as the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), made the comments just a week before Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen is set to testify before the committee to address the pharma giant’s high U.S. prices.
In April, the HELP committee launched an investigation into the high prices the company charges for its blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs. The committee’s investigation found that the net cost of Ozempic in the U.S. is about $600 a month (its retail price is $968.52), well above the drug’s price in other countries. In Germany, for example, Ozempic costs just $59 for a month’s supply.
“We appreciate that it is frustrating that each country has its own healthcare system but making isolated and limited comparisons ignores this fundamental fact,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told Quartz in an emailed statement. “We have and will continue to cooperate with policymakers on real solutions and are proud of the benefit our discoveries have brought to treat and defeat chronic diseases like diabetes and obesity.”
The company spokesperson added that the net price of Ozempic has fallen 40% since launching in the U.S. and that over 80% of Americans with insurance only pay $25 or less per month for the drug.