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Floor Speech

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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, let me be as clear as I can be. That is, the American people--whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents--are sick and tired of paying, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. The American people are sick and tired of being ripped off by giant pharmaceutical companies who make huge profits every year while charging us outrageous prices that the American people cannot afford.

A few months ago, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee--the HELP Committee--that I chair held a hearing on the extraordinarily high prices of prescription drugs in the United States, and this is what we learned.

We learned that Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, made $14.5 billion in profits last year charging Americans struggling with diabetes $6,900 for Januvia, when the same exact product can be purchased in Canada for $900 and in France for $200.

Here you go: $6,900 in the United States, $900 in Canada, $200 in France. This is not a generic. This is the exact same product.

We found that this same company--which, by the way, could afford to spend $7 billion last year on dividends and a $52 million compensation package for its CEO--$52 million for its CEO--charges Americans struggling with cancer $191,000 for Keytruda, while the same exact drug can be purchased in Canada for $112,000, $91,000 in France, and $89,000 in Germany.

Keytruda: $191,000 in the United States, $112,000 in Canada, and $91,000 in France.

And it is not just Merck. This is Merck, but it is not just Merck. Our committee also discovered that Bristol Myers Squibb, a company that made over $6 billion in profits last year, charges patients in America $7,100 for Eliquis, the popular blood thinner, when that same exact product can be purchased for just $900 in Canada and just $650 in France.

Eliquis: $7,100 in the United States; $900 in Canada; and $650 in France--same exact product.

That same company, Bristol Myers Squibb--which, by the way, could afford to spend some $14 billion on stock buybacks and dividends and hand out $41 million in compensation to its CEO last year--charges Americans with cancer $192,000 for Opdivo, while that same exact drug can be purchased for just $89,000 in Canada and $68,000 in France.

Opdivo, cancer drug: $192,000 in America, $89,000 in Canada, $68,000 in France--same product, same company.

What else did our committee learn from its investigation? Well, we found out that Johnson & Johnson, which made over $18 billion in profits last year, charges cancer patients $204,000 for Imbruvica, which can be purchased for just $46,000 in the UK and $43,000 in France.

And that same company, which recently spent over $17 billion on stock buybacks and dividends and gave its CEO a $27 million compensation package last year, charges Americans with arthritis $79,000 for Stelara when it can be purchased for just $30,000 in Germany and $16,000 in the UK. Stelara, Johnson & Johnson: $79,000 in the United States, $16,000 in the UK, $30,000 in Germany.

Let us be clear. It is not just Bristol Myers Squibb. It is not just Merck. It is not just Johnson & Johnson. Incredibly--and this is quite incredible and unbelievable and talks to our broken and dysfunctional healthcare system--while one out of four Americans cannot afford the medicine their doctors prescribe, 10 top pharmaceutical companies in our country made over $110 billion in profits last year and spent tens of billions on stock buybacks and dividends. In other words, you have the insane situation where people get sick. They go to the doctor. The doctor writes out a prescription. They cannot afford to fill that prescription. Well, if you are sick and you can't afford to fill the prescription, what happens to you? Likely, you even get sicker. You may end up in the hospital at an additional cost to the system, not to mention human suffering.

As the chair of the Senate HELP Committee, one of the top priorities for me is to try to substantially reduce the price of prescription drugs in the United States. And one of the ways to do that, in my view, is to hold the executives of some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in our country accountable for their actions; let them know that we understand what is going on and that the American people will not accept what is going on.

That brings us to another major pharmaceutical company, and that is Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of the blockbuster drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. On April 24, the HELP Committee launched an investigation into the unbelievably high prices Novo Nordisk charges for Ozempic and Wegovy in the United States for millions of our people who are struggling with diabetes and obesity. We have an epidemic in this country of diabetes and obesity. People need these very, very important drugs.

Today, our investigation has found that Novo Nordisk charges Americans with type 2 diabetes $969 a month for Ozempic, while the same exact drug can be purchased for just $59 in Germany, $122 in Denmark, and $155 in Canada. Here we got it. Ozempic, blockbuster drug, important drug dealing with diabetes and obesity: United States, $969, Canada $155, Denmark, $122, Germany, $59. The same exact drug made by the same company is almost 10 times higher--more than 10 times higher. My arithmetic is not that good. It looks to be almost 20 times higher between the United States and Germany.

Novo Nordisk charges Americans with obesity--that was for diabetes-- $1,349 a month for Wegovy, while the same exact product can be purchased for just $92 in the UK, $186 in Denmark, and $265 in Canada. Further, if half of the adults in our country--this is not an unreasonable projection. If half of the adults in our country with obesity took Wegovy, which is apparently a very successful drug, and the other new weight loss drugs, it could cost--and this is quite incredible, and every Member of Congress should be listening to this-- it would cost us, as a nation, $411 billion every year for weight-loss drugs dealing with diabetes and obesity. That is $5 billion more than what Americans spent on all--A-L-L--all prescription drugs at the pharmacy counter in 2022.

Let me repeat it. If we do not change, fundamentally change, this scenario, Americans could be spending more at these incredibly absurd prices on weight-loss drugs than on all prescription drugs at the pharmacy counter for cancer, for whatever--more for weight-loss drugs than all the other drugs in the country. Clearly, it doesn't take an economist to understand that this is unsustainable. It can't happen.

The HELP Committee also found that if half of all Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries who are obese--not talking about diabetes, talking about obesity--took Wegovy and other weight-loss drugs, Medicare and Medicaid could spend $166 billion every year, roughly what these two major healthcare programs spent on all retail prescription drugs in 2022. That would also be unsustainable.

The scientists at Novo Nordisk and the other drug companies deserve a lot of credit and thanks for developing these important lifesaving drugs. But these drugs mean nothing for the millions of people who cannot afford them. And if we do not substantially lower the prices these companies are charging, they will have a disastrous impact on the Federal deficit and the future of Medicare and Medicaid.

So all of those people worried about the Federal deficit, worried about the future of Medicare and Medicaid, listen up because just these drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, can bankrupt those programs. We have, in my view, a moral responsibility to make sure that every American with diabetes and obesity who receives a prescription for Ozempic or Wegovy can afford to purchase those drugs. It would be a horrible thing for somebody who was in need of those drugs, who could be helped by those drugs, to not to be able to get them because they can't afford these outrageous prices.

Further, as Members of the Congress, we have a fiscal responsibility to make sure that Ozempic and Wegovy do not bankrupt Medicare, Medicaid, and, in fact, our entire healthcare system, which already spends twice as much per capita on healthcare as the people of any other country.

That is why the HELP Committee has, time and time again, invited the leadership of Novo Nordisk to voluntarily testify about the unconscionably high prices they are charging for these drugs in the United States. The reason why we invited the executives at Novo Nordisk to testify before Congress is not complicated. It is a very, very simple question that we want answered. And that question is, Why do they think it is acceptable for Novo Nordisk to charge Americans $969 for Ozempic when that same exact drug can be purchased for just $59 in Germany and $155 in Canada? We want to ask them why they think it is acceptable to charge Americans $1,349 for Wegovy when that same drug can be purchased for just $92 in the United Kingdom.

After all is said and done, what are we trying to accomplish? The answer is obvious, and the answer is simple. We want Novo Nordisk to stop ripping off the American people, and we want them to stop charging us prices that are far, far higher than they charge the people of other countries. That is what I want to see, and that is what the overwhelming majority of American people want to see.

Unfortunately, despite the many, many discussions that I and my staff have had with Novo Nordisk over the past several months, I must confess that we have made virtually no progress in getting them to lower their prices. We have asked the leadership of the company to come before the committee to explain why their prices are so much higher in the United States than in other countries. Unfortunately, they have not agreed to do that.

Therefore, the HELP Committee has no choice but to subpoena the leadership of Novo Nordisk to testify and explain their actions. I look forward to the presence of the leadership of Novo Nordisk at a HELP Committee hearing on July 10.

Let me be very clear. The HELP Committee that I chair will continue to ask the tough questions that the pharmaceutical industry would prefer us to ignore: Why is it that the median price of new prescription drugs in America is now over $300,000, including for many new cancer drugs? Why has the pharmaceutical industry spent over the past 25 years some $8.5 billion on lobbying and over $700 million on campaign contributions?

Right now, as we speak, there are some 1,800 well-paid lobbyists of the pharmaceutical industry all over Washington, former leaders of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, doing everything they can to make sure we do not ask those questions and that we are not successful in getting them to lower their prices.

Mr. President, let me conclude the way I began. This is an issue that is not a Democratic issue. It is not a Republican issue. It is not an Independent issue. The American people are sick and tired of being ripped off by the pharmaceutical industry, sick and tired of paying by far the highest prices in the world.

And the time is now for the Congress to have the courage to stand up to the 1,800 paid lobbyists here in Washington, DC, all the campaign contributions that come in, and tell the industry enough is enough. Lower the prices you are charging the American people.

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