cashmowheeloffortune| Senate Health Committee investigates Novo Nordisk: Can GLP-1 drugs be sold cheaper?

Xinhua News Agency, April 25 (Editor Shi Zhengcheng) due to the amazing effect in the field of weight loss, as well as the wide range of health benefits of weight loss, Novo Nord's GLP-1 drug Simigelutide continues to be a global bestseller. At the same time, the cost of nearly a thousand dollars a month for one patient has led the US government to say that it is too expensive.

Finally, yelling.CashmowheeloffortuneBernie Sanders, chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said on Wednesday that the committee was investigating Novo Nord's pricing after months of unsuccessful demands on drug companies to cut prices. Sanders stressed that the price of GLP-1 drugs "must be reduced" so that consumers can buy them, and that the government will not go bankrupt because of reimbursement for these drugs.

Will the price of drugs be "significantly reduced"?Cashmowheeloffortune?

The background is that in the US market, the Ozempic box used to treat Ⅱ diabetes costs nearly $968, while the Wegovy box used to lose weight and reduce the risk of heart disease in obese adults costs $1349. Generally speaking, Americans spend about $1,000 a month on these two drugs.

According to CDC, nearly 42% of adults in the United States are obese, while about 11% of the population has diabetes. Faced with the fact that tens of millions of people may need "$1,000 a month in medicine", American policy makers are also quite worried.

In a letter sent to Novo Nord CEO on Wednesday, Sanders said the Senate Health Committee had asked Novo Nord to provide "internal communication about the pricing of the drug in the United States" and explained why Ozempic and Wegovy have the same composition (both are simigug peptides), but Wegovy is significantly more expensive. The committee also bluntly asked Novo Nord "whether it will significantly reduce the prices of these two drugs."

Sanders asked Novo Nord to reply by May 8, the letter said.

In view of the current competition for supremacy in the diet drug market, Sanders denied that it only investigated whether foreign companies constituted a "double label" and said that the committee was also interested in studying GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound from the US pharmaceutical giant Lilly.

"good medicine that you can't afford has no value."

Novo Nord gave a steady response to the latest move by the U.S. Senate.

A Novo Nord spokesman responded in a statement that the company agrees that access to these (GLP-1) drugs is critical for patients in the U.S. health insurance, Medicaid and commercial markets. But it is often easy to simplify the understanding of diseases, the science behind the development of new treatments, and the complexity of American and global health care systems.

The spokesman concluded that the company remains committed to working with policy makers to promote solutions that support the availability and affordability of medicines to all patients.

Novo Nord's statement also points to the US government's struggle with GLP-1 drugs: under current reimbursement coverage, many patients cannot afford expensive GLP-1 drugs, even though the US government and health insurance providers are already feeling intense financial pressure.

In the United States, many major health insurance policies do cover these drugs, but as insurance providers and employers try to save money, some plans have begun to restrict the use of drugs or even stop covering GLP-1 drugs. Like many countries, state Medicaid in the United States is not reimbursed for weight loss, but many states support the use of Nuohotai to treat diabetes. Medicare also does not support separate reimbursement of weight-loss drugs, but diabetes drugs can be reimbursed, and Ozempic drugs to solve cardiovascular problems may be reimbursed in the future.

According to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office at the end of March, the Congressional Budget Office said that if GLP-1 drugs for weight loss were covered in Medicare at current prices, Medicare would spend more money on weight loss drugs than they would save on health insurance, leading to a rising US deficit over the next decade.

"drugs that people can't afford are of no value to people, no matter how effective they are," Sanders said. "