Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk facing pressure as study finds $1,000 appetite suppressant can be made for just $5

The blockbuster drug could be manufactured for 89 cents to $4.73 for a month’s supply, figures that include a profit margin, researchers at Yale University, King’s College Hospital in London and the nonprofit Doctors Without Borders reported in the journal JAMA Network Open. That compares to the monthly US list price of $968.52 for Ozempic, a weekly injection.

Novo declined to provide production costs for Ozempic and Wegovy, its related drug for obesity. The company said it’s making significant investments to ensure that the public has access to its widely popular drugs. It’s making about $6 billion in capital expenditures and spending $11 billion to acquire production facilities from Catalent Inc. as part of those efforts, according to an emailed response to questions.

“This outrageously high price has the potential to bankrupt Medicare, the American people and our entire health care system,” Senator Bernie Sanders, who has held hearings about high US drug prices, said in a statement after the findings came out. The Vermont independent called on Novo Nordisk to lower the list price of Ozempic to $155 a month or less, in line with what it charges in other countries.