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Bernie Sanders has called a vote to subpoena a Novo Nordisk executive to testify on the company’s prices for Ozempic and Wegovy.
The senator announced Tuesday that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) is set to vote Tuesday, June 18, on whether to subpoena Novo Nordisk president Doug Langa for a hearing on July 10.
In April, the HELP committee launched an investigation into the high prices the company charges for its blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs.
Sanders said the committee’s investigation found that the net cost of Ozempic in the United States is about $600 a month, well above the drug’s list price in other countries. Ozempic in Germany is just $59 for a month’s supply.
The net price of Wegovy in the United States is $809, while it goes for $92 in the United Kingdom.
Sanders alleges that Novo Nordisk has denied requests to appear before the committee.
“The HELP Committee has reached out time and time again to Novo Nordisk to request their voluntary attendance at a hearing to discuss why they are charging Americans up to 10 or 15 times more for the exact same product sold in other countries,” Sanders said in a statement. “Unfortunately, despite all of our efforts, they have repeatedly denied our requests.”
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson told Quartz in an emailed statement that a subpoena is not necessary since the company has cooperated with all of Sanders’s requests.
“Every time the Chairman has made a request to Novo Nordisk we have responded and cooperated. On multiple occasions, we have communicated our CEO’S willingness to testify and offered several dates for a hearing,” said the spokesperson.
It’s important to note that 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.