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Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen has agreed to voluntarily testify in September before the Senate’s health committee to address the pharma giant’s high prices for its diabetes and weight loss drugs in the U.S.
The agreement came days after after Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), called a vote to subpoena a Novo Nordisk executive. In April, the HELP committee launched an investigation into the high prices the company charges for its blockbuster drugs.
“I enjoyed the opportunity of chatting with Mr. Jørgensen this afternoon and thank him for agreeing to voluntarily testify on a solo panel before the HELP Committee on the high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States,” Sanders said in a statement Friday.
He added that the subpoena vote has been cancelled.
“We look forward to discussing solutions that ensure access and affordability for all patients within the complex U.S. healthcare system,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said in statement.
The hearing will take place in early September.
Sanders said last week that the committee’s investigation found that the net cost of Ozempic in the U.S. is about $600 a month, well above the drug’s list price in other countries. Ozempic in Germany costs just $59 for a month’s supply. The net price of Wegovy in the U.S. is $809, while it goes for $92 in the United Kingdom.
The final price patients pay for these medications varies by patient and can depend on insurance coverage.
A Morgan Stanley survey of GLP-1 users — the class of drug that Ozempic and Wegovy belong to — found that about two-third of respondents said their medication is fully covered by insurance. Patients who paid out-of-pocket said their average monthly payment was $196.