WASHINGTON — Senate health committee chair Bernie Sanders has called a vote to subpoena the chief of Novo Nordisk’s U.S. division over the company’s pricing of the popular diabetes drug Ozempic and the obesity drug Wegovy, his office announced Tuesday.
The vote is scheduled for June 18. Sanders (I-Vt.) is seeking the appearance of Novo’s Doug Langa at a hearing next month. Sanders launched an investigation into Novo Nordisk’s pricing practices in April, and, he said that the committee “reached out time and time again” to schedule Novo Nordisk’s voluntary appearance at a hearing to no avail.
“Unfortunately, despite all of our efforts, they have repeatedly denied our requests,” Sanders said. “We look forward to their presence at a hearing on July 10.”
A Novo spokesperson said the company has responded to every request Sanders has made, and said the company is “committed to a hearing that aligns with the Chairman’s established committee practices.”
“On multiple occasions, we have communicated our CEO’s willingness to testify and offered several dates for a hearing. Based on our continued cooperation, we feel that issuing a subpoena is unnecessary,” the company said in a written statement.
If history is any indicator, there’s a good chance the committee won’t actually vote on the subpoena — it’s primarily a pressure tactic to try to compel Novo to cooperate. The health committee hasn’t actually issued a subpoena in more than 40 years.
Sanders successfully ran a similar playbook on executives from Merck and Johnson & Johnson earlier this year. Under the threat of subpoena, the company CEOs agreed to testify at a hearing on why companies charge more for medicines in the United States than abroad before the subpoena vote actually happened.
This move is the latest maneuver in Sanders’ boldest pressure campaign yet to browbeat companies into lowering patients’ drug costs. Unlike other targets of Sanders’ ire that were drugs based on decades-old technology or developed in part with federal funding, Novo’s weight loss medicines in particular are innovative, effective, and wildly popular.
The immense demand for Ozempic and Wegovy have led other companies to start developing weight loss drugs and ignited what some analysts estimate could become a $130 billion global obesity market.
In the face of Sanders’ investigation, Novo has defended the price of Ozempic and Wegovy, saying that they can prevent chronic conditions like heart disease in the future, and so their full value hasn’t yet been realized. Executives have also said that net prices, which are what Novo actually makes from the drugs after rebates and discounts, have been coming down.
Private payers and state plans have also balked at the price of the medications, with some dropping coverage of the treatments or putting in place stringent prior authorization requirements.
This article has been updated with a statement from Novo Nordisk.