President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) continued their call for lower drug prices in an op-ed published Tuesday, citing the high cost of weight-loss products made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
In their op-ed, Biden and Sanders echoed the common criticism that pharmaceutical companies charge the U.S. significantly more for prescription drugs than comparable countries. published in USA Today.
They pointed to Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, for which the US pays up to six times as much as countries like Canada and Germany.
“It is certainly not the patriotic duty of Americans to pay high drug prices at home so that others abroad can enjoy the fair prices to which every American deserves,” they wrote.
The joint op-ed comes after Sanders and Biden appeared to bury the hatchet earlier this year over the senator's criticism of the White House for what he claimed was a lack of substantive action on drug price control. Sanders spoke at the White House in April to celebrate the progress that had been made, though he added in his remarks at the time that it was still “not enough.”
The pair cited steps the Biden administration has taken to combat high drug costs, such as passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which capped prescription drug spending for Medicare beneficiaries and allowed the program to negotiate drug prices for the first time.
Biden and Sanders argued that IRA benefits should be expanded to include everyone.
“At a time when many Americans are dealing with myriad chronic diseases, no one in our country should be forced to pay more than $2,000 a year for the prescription medications they need, and that doesn't just apply to seniors,” they wrote.
One of the main reasons the US pays more for drugs than other countries is the lack of price control strategies, as health policy organizations such as the Commonwealth Fund previously noted. Medicare drug price negotiations are one such strategy the U.S. is now employing.
The op-ed also cited the pressure campaigns on pharmaceutical companies that Sanders has conducted as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee as consistent actions to lower drug costs. Novo Nordisk is currently the subject of Sanders' latest pressure campaign, with the company's CEO, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, set to testify before the senator's committee in September.
Biden and Sanders wrote that Novo Nordisk scientists “deserve great credit” for developing Ozempic and Wegovy, both forms of semaglutide.
“But as important as these drugs are, they will do no good for the millions of patients who cannot afford them,” they wrote. “Moreover, unless the prices of these drugs are substantially reduced, they have the potential to bankrupt the American health care system. We will not let that happen.”
They noted that if just half of American adults with obesity took drugs like Wegovy, it would cost $5 billion more than what Americans would spend on all prescription drugs in 2022.
Biden and Sanders pledged to do “everything in our power” to lower drug costs if manufacturers like Novo Nordisk “do not end their greed.”
The Hill has reached out to Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly for comment.
