© Reuters.
Investing.com — Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:) is ready to be “flexible” on the price of its weight-loss drug Wegovy. This was stated by the CEO of the drug manufacturer, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, in an interview with the Financial Times. The goal is to find an agreement with US healthcare companies to make anti-obesity treatment as accessible as possible.
A drug out of reach for many
In the United States the price of Wegovy is 1,349 dollars per month, the majority of which weighs on patients’ bills, given that the costs for the drug are not covered by half of the country’s insurance companies nor by the national health system Medicare.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the USA between 2017 and March 2020, approximately 42% of the population suffered from obesity. The disease not only represents a problem for individuals but also for state coffers, with a cost of almost 173 billion dollars a year.
Spread costs and risk
Despite increased competition from the cheaper Zepbound, produced by rival Eli Lilly, CEO Jørgensen ruled out the possibility of reducing the price of Wegovy. The Danish company, however, is willing to share the risk with healthcare companies, opening up the possibility for facilities to spread the cost over a longer period of time.
For example, Jørgensen cited the study that Novo Nordisk’s drug would reduce the risk of heart attack by 20%. The decrease in serious cardiovascular events could translate into long-term savings for healthcare companies, thus helping them to spread the costs incurred to buy Wegovy.
In any case, according to the CEO it will not be easy for the company to reach an agreement with healthcare facilities to set up multi-year payment plans.
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2023-11-27 15:37:00
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