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American diabetes patients will now be able to buy the wildly popular weight-loss drug Ozempic for half its usual price — as long as they pay out of pocket.
Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk said on Monday that it would make the drug available through its direct pharmacy service for $499 per month, compared to a list price of just under $1,000 per month.
The drug is available as an obesity medication under the alternate brand name Wegovy but will now be sold to patients with diabetes prescriptions as well.
Scientifically known as semaglutide, Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists have rapidly transformed weight loss and diabetes treatment across the world, while at one point boosting Novo Nordisk’s profits enough to raise the entire GDP of Denmark.
It comes after President Donald Trump specifically called out GLP-1 agonists for being more expensive in the U.S. than in other countries, claiming he would “slash the cost of prescription drugs” by as much as 80 percent.
Novo Nordisk on Monday said it now offers cash-paying U.S. patients its diabetes treatment Ozempic for less than half its monthly list price as drugmakers face political pressure to lower prices (AFP/Getty)
He also accused European nations of “unfairly shifting the cost burden onto American patients” by using the bargaining power of their large single-payer healthcare services to force U.S. pharma companies to accept lower prices.
Big Pharma has been responsive, with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla recently admitting that he and other firms are discussing ways to make their drugs available more cheaply.
Sales of Ozempic surged by 500 to 600 percent in the U.K. after its competitor Mounjaro announced that prices would more than triple starting on September 1.
But Trump’s tariffs could also raise the price of U.S. drugs that are manufactured abroad unless pharma companies or foreign governments can agree some exemption.
Novo Nordisk launched its NovaCare pharmacy in March, offering Wegovy for $499 to patients willing to skip insurance and forego any reimbursement.
More recently the president upgraded his promise on drug prices to say he would cut them by up to “1,500 percent”, which is mathematically impossible without going into negative numbers.
In Ozempic’s case, reducing the list price by 1,500 percent would result in Novo Nordisk paying American patients around $14,000 for a month’s supply of the drug — which is unlikely.