The Ozempic Debate in Congress Reveals a Lot About Big Pharma Games
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Yeah, we had ourselves another congressional dog and pony show. They love putting on dog and pony shows in Washington, D .C. Hey, you know, actually doing their job and passing, I don’t know, spending bills. No, no, they got to do their investigations. we got a long list of these stupid things that they do all the time. I remember making fun of the ridiculous dog and pony show with steroids and baseball.
guys have nothing else better to do. Well, anyway, we got Bernie Sanders up there and they brought in, they brought in the top man, top man CEO of Novo Nordisk. Novo Nordisk is behind Wigovie and Ozempic.
and the demand for these things have gone through the roof here in the United States. it’s more expensive here than it is everywhere else and Bernie Sanders doesn’t like it. Doesn’t like it. Okay, the CEO said he wants to work with Congress on policy solutions that will address the structural issues that drive up prescription drug costs.
He’s also committed to sitting down with Pharma SUNY benefit managers, middlemen who negotiate drug rebates with manufacturers on behalf of insurers to collaborate on anything that helps patients get access and affordability. Okay. Bernie Sanders not happy saying that it may, why isn’t Novo nor just treating the American people the way you treat people all over the world? Stop ripping us off.
So far, this company has had nearly 50 billion in sales from these two drugs. Most of the revenue coming from the United States. Yeah, we got lot of obesity here. Okay, great market for this company here in the United States. Ozempic costs what, about a thousand bucks a month?
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costs about $1 ,300 a month here in the United States. again, some European countries, OZEMPIC costs 59 bucks in Germany. Wigobi costs 92 bucks in the UK. is saying that the company could sell a version of OZEMPIC for less than 100 bucks a month. We go on and on and on. First and foremost,
This is nothing new. Okay? This is nothing new. Again, this is a dog and pony show because the United States of America pays the R &D costs for drugs from all over the world. It’s just how it works here, kids. It’s how it works. We pay the R &D costs. Companies will go to other countries around the globe and they’ll say, okay, this is what they’re…
This is what their healthcare system is willing to pay and they take it. They take it. Much, much different here in the good old USA. You’re picking on Novo Nordis, but the same thing with American pharmaceutical companies as well. Now, somebody has to pay. Again, you want to talk about, I’ve talked about this before in regards to trade deals.
I don’t think it’s right. don’t think it’s fair that the United States should have to do this. But how do you go about changing it? How do you go about changing it? If Bernie Sanders, these people that are holding this hearing, it’s not going to go anywhere. If they were to say, OK, we’re not going to pay here in the United States. Our drugs have to be a percentage or close to what it is the average of European nations. That would basically put the there wouldn’t be any more drugs, put it that way.
The amount of money it costs to develop various different treatments is very, very expensive. It can take a very long period of time. We’ve discussed this here on the program. The way the system is set up, no, it’s not good. But again, that’s way our insurance system is set up, the way Obamacare is set up. There’s no transparency when it comes to anything, when it comes to health care. You don’t go to a hospital here in the United States.
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and see what their menu is. You don’t go to a doctor’s office and see what the cost of anything is. It’s all a negotiation. Quite frankly, interesting here, little side anecdote. Waiting to get an approval from my stupid insurance company for my son’s MRI so he can get back onto the lacrosse field. Anyway, neither here nor there, rejected. Rejected, I’m like, I’m like, Stephen, go, just go pay for it.
Just go pay for it out of pocket. It’s 400 bucks. Get your MRI. $400. Yeah, paying for it in cash, as it turned out, was less than it would have been if the insurance company paid for it. To say that our health care system is a disaster is an understatement. And if you think that these dog and pony shows that they’re putting out in Congress are going to change anything, you’re crazy. Watchdog on wallstreet .com.
