Cost could soon come down for millions of Americans, drugmaker confirms – here’s how

Get skinny about it.

Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company that makes Ozempic, said it is “very likely” the cost of the popular diabetes weight-loss drug has turned to weight loss in the second round of Medicare drug price negotiations.

Ulrich Otte, the company’s senior vice president of finance and operations, made the claim at the Cantor Global Healthcare Conference in New York earlier this week, saying: “It is very likely that Ozempic will be part of the negotiations in the round next, and we are ready for it

Without insurance, Ozempic could cost US patients, on average, $1,200 a month. By contrast, a month’s supply of the drug in Germany costs just $59.

In an op-ed in USA Today in July, President Joe Biden noted that Novo Nordisk has made over $12 billion in profits by “ripping off” Americans for the drug, which can be made for less than $5.

Ozempic and other semaglutide medications were originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes – but are increasingly being used for weight loss.

For decades, the federal government was barred from bargaining with pharmaceutical companies over the price of their drugs, even though it’s a routine process for private insurers.

“This would mean that drug companies could basically pay whatever they wanted for life-saving treatments that people rely on, and all Americans pay the price,” White House adviser Neera Tanden previously asserted.

However, in 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which allows the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate the price of name brand drugs.

In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it would lower the price for 10 of Medicare’s most popular and costliest drugs, starting January 1, 2026.

CMS will select 15 more drugs for price negotiations in February of next year, and Ozempic is expected to be among them.

In an emailed statement, a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told Quartz: “We cannot speculate on which Novo Nordisk drugs will be selected for future negotiations with [the] Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). We have opposed government price fixing through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and have serious concerns about the way the law is being implemented.

In his op-ed in USA Today, President Biden specifically called out the makers of Ozempic for their price gouging tactics, writing: “Novo Nordisk is charging the American people unconscionably high prices for these prescription drugs. If your doctor prescribes a GLP-1, Ozempic and Wegovy prices can be up to six times higher than prices in Canada, Germany, Denmark, and other large countries. This is unacceptable.”

In April, Commission for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) launched an investigation into Ozempik the price. HELP found that the net cost of the drug in the US is significantly higher than in other countries.

Ozempic’s prohibitive price has led some consumers to seek out illegal online pharmacies selling fake or substandard versions of the drug.

This news of Ozempic price cuts comes as Novo Nordisk is developing a weight loss pill that mirrors Ozempic’s effects. According to new trial results, the pharmaceutical company says that Amycretin can cause weight loss of up to 13% in three months.