Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic costs less than $5 a month: study | Wilnesh News

Blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic costs less than $5 a month to produce, even though Novo Nordisk TOLL Close to $1,000 Injection once a month in the United States before enrolling in insurance study The recommendations were released Wednesday.

The study, by researchers at Yale University, King’s College Hospital in London and the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders, raises more questions about the high prices of best-selling diabetes treatments and similar weight-loss drugs, which are new part of the drug. Therapeutic class called GLP-1.

Demand for these drugs has surged in the last year, even as a growing number of insurers are removing them from plans due to cost, making them unaffordable for some patients.

The study also comes after years of political pressure for Novo Nordisk and other drugmakers to cut the high cost of diabetes care, especially insulin.

Ozempic is generally less expensive to produce than various forms of insulin, according to research published in JAMA Network Open.

Researchers found that a month’s supply The treatment costs an estimated 89 cents to $4.73 to manufacture. They evaluated the manufacturing costs of the weekly shots as well as profit margins and tax subsidies to arrive at these estimates, which they called “cost-based prices.”

Novo Nordisk’s monthly Ozempic package is priced at $935.77 Before insurance and other rebates. The findings suggest that GLP-1 “is likely to be produced at prices well below current prices, allowing for wider access,” the researchers concluded.

In a statement Wednesday, Novo Nordisk declined to provide production costs for Ozempic and its weight-loss drug counterpart Wegovy. But the Danish drugmaker noted that it spent nearly $5 billion on research and development last year and will spend more than $6 billion in a recent agreement to boost production to meet GLP-1 demand.

The company also said that 75% of its total revenue is spent on rebates and discounts to ensure patients have access to its products.

The company also said the out-of-pocket cost of Ozempic depends on the patient’s insurance coverage. Patients with private or commercial insurance from Ozempic can use a debit card to pay just $25 for one, two or three months of treatment for 24 months.

Independent research by the University of Liverpool and other researchers found that Wegovy costs $40 per month to produce.

A survey released this month by Evercore ISI found that more than half of people currently taking GLP-1 said their monthly out-of-pocket costs were $50 or less. Nearly 75% of respondents who had ever taken one of these drugs said they spent the same amount.