Sen. Bernie Sanders is taking aim at the high prices of the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
The Vermont senator, an independent who has long called out drug manufacturers for their costly products, is launching an investigation into the “outrageously high prices” Novo Nordisk charges for the drugs.
“The scientists at Novo Nordisk deserve great credit for developing these drugs that have the potential to be a game changer for millions of Americans struggling with type 2 diabetes and obesity. As important as these drugs are, they will not do any good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them,” Sanders, chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, wrote Wednesday in a letter to the drugmaker’s CEO. “Further, if the prices for these products are not substantially reduced, they also have the potential to bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and our entire health care system.”
I get that med patents are a necessary evil to incentivize pharmaceuticals to invest in R&D, but the patents should be exceptionally short if the company does not accept price controls.
Medications, even ones like this which are not “necessary” but nonetheless beneficial to the quality of life for millions of people, should be universally accessible, especially knowing how little it actually costs for these companies to manufacture them.