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Maker of Ozempic and Wegovy faces grilling over high cost of weight loss drugs (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The chief executive of the drugmaker Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, is scheduled to face tough questions Tuesday on Capitol Hill about the high costs of the company’s widely popular weight-loss drugs.

Jørgensen will appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions during a livestreamed hearing Tuesday starting at 10 a.m. ET.

The head of the committee, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has been vocal about his frustrations over how much Novo Nordisk charges Americans for both Ozempic (used to treat type 2 diabetes) and Wegovy (approved for weight loss).

"In general, we pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. Same exact medicine sold in Canada, Europe is a fraction of what it is in the United States," Sanders said in an interview Monday. "The result of that is that hundreds of thousands of people in this country who desperately need this product will not be able to afford it."

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Consider how many millions of Americans are obese, and the knock-on effects that has on a person's health. I suspect that if these drugs were widely available and affordable it would probably save money and lives in the long term.

[+] [email protected] -15 points 3 months ago (3 children)

The obesity epidemic is from the food we shove down our faces, not genetics or disease. We aren’t getting fat due to some virus or bacteria. We are fat because of self control issues and corporations sell more food if they put more sugar/fat/salt in it. Yes, some people DO need a drug like this, but we all know that is NOT who is buying and using this.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But these drugs target the self-control issues as well.

You aren't wrong that our food is shit, and that also needs to be addressed, however these drugs are a very useful and effective means of addressing the obesity problem. You are wrong to be judging who you think needs these drugs and who doesn't. If someone is obese and has been unable to control their weight for whatever reason, and these drugs work for them, then they need these drugs.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Wow. I’m not judging who needs this, I’m saying that these are not the drugs that need the cost to come down first. There are other medications that should be looked at, even other diabetes meds, to be lowered first. Not these that are being advertised as weight loss miracles. I’m not against these drugs, and I’m sure they help those that need it, and I’m not a doctor to decide that anyway. I’m just pointing out that the two listed medications are a weird choice to start with when it comes to lowering drug prices.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

some people DO need a drug like this, but we all know that is NOT who is buying and using this.

This sounds kinda judgy to me.

And these are not the medications that they've started looking at to lower prices on. The Inflation Reduction Act had several pieces of it that are aimed at lowering the cost of several prescriptions, including insulin. There have been other bills created at lowering the costs of other drugs, such at the epipen. It's possible to address multiple problems at once. Just because we haven't solved pricing on all drugs doesn't mean we can't make progress on specific, overprice drugs.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 3 months ago

The title to this post and the article attached is about these two drugs, that are both being touted as miracle weight loss products, not as a product for people with diabetes. Jesus, we have so many other things out there that are killing us that corporations have a strangle hold on, I’m just questioning why these two are in the spotlight.

And if it sounds judgmental to you, then you are just ignorant to the way the world works my friend.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

That's just crabs in a bucket. There's no reason we need to only look at one drug at a time, congress could make sweeping drug price reforms any time it wants. Fighting over which single thing to look at first only allows politicians to stall because "no one can decide on what to do."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I'm not going to go as far as blaming some corporation for my shitty life, but some nuance is in order. Some people are just more prone to certain types of addictions compared to others. In some cases, we KNOW for a fact it's genetics. In others we can only suspect.

Personally, I've won the lottery nicotine-wise. I could smoke a cigarette one day and not have another for months or years. But put a good cheesecake in front of me and I'll eat until I'm physically not able to continue.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

Don't let perfection be the enemy of the good