Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen has agreed to face questions at a Senate hearing in September after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, threatened to subpoena the company over its pricing of popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
Sanders, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), announced the agreement on Friday. It came three days after Sanders revealed that the committee was set to vote on whether to require Novo’s North America operations chief Doug Langa to appear at a Senate hearing on July 10. The subpoena vote was scheduled for Tuesday, June 18.
“I enjoyed the opportunity of chatting with Mr. Jorgensen this afternoon and thank him for voluntarily agreeing to testify,” Sanders said in the release. “The scheduled subpoena vote is no longer necessary and will be canceled.”
Novo said that Jorgensen had a “productive call” with Sanders, agreeing to find a “mutually acceptable date for a hearing.”
“We look forward to discussing solutions that ensure access and affordability for all patients within the complex U.S. healthcare system,” Novo added.
The hearing figures to pose questions similar to those raised in February when CEOs from Bristol Myers Squibb (Chris Boerner), Johnson & Johnson (Joaquin Duato) and Merck (Rob Davis) appeared before the Senate in a high-profile but largely inconsequential event.
Two months ago, the HELP Committee launched an investigation into Novo’s pricing which revealed that it charges $969 per month in the U.S. for type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic versus $155 in Canada, $122 in the company’s home country of Denmark and $59 in Germany.
Likewise for obesity drug Wegovy, Novo charges $1,349 per month in the U.S. while the same product can be had in Germany for $140 and in the U.K. for $92 per month.
Last week, when Sanders announced his subpoena effort, Novo responded that it was “unnecessary” based on the company’s “continued cooperation.”
A June 7 letter obtained by The Hill from Novo to the HELP Committee asked for "a fair hearing which includes a range of stakeholders that impact what patients pay for GLP-1 medicines in the complex U.S. healthcare ecosystem—rather than focus on just one participant.”
Novo’s reference in the letter is to rival Eli Lilly, which charges a higher price per month in the U.S. ($1,069) for its type 2 diabetes drug Mounjaro than Novo charges for Ozempic. Both companies have been targets of Sanders for their U.S. pricing of insulin products to treat type 1 diabetes.
Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce wrote that Sanders is "abusing the power of his committee to intimidate companies."
"In a country founded on the principles of the rule of law and respect for free enterprise, the spectacle of an elected official targeting reputable companies for what appears to be political gain undermines the very foundations of the American economic system," the Chamber added.
In 2023, sales of Ozempic and Wegovy accounted for 55% of the company’s revenue. The GLP-1 treatments racked up combined sales of $18.4 billion, up from $9.3 billion in 2022. With the surge in demand, Novo has become Europe's most valuable biopharma company as measured by market cap.