Published: October 2024

HHS should allow for generic competition among Ozempic-like drugs to lower consumers’ drug prices

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Bacerra, consumer-interest organizations called on the agency to use existing legal authority to allow competition for the diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which would lower prices for consumers.

Consumer Action was one of more than 20 consumer-interest organizations to sign on to a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Bacerra urging him to use HHS’s existing legal authority to lower prices for semaglutide, a drug, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, that is used for the management of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Semaglutide is already being used by hundreds of thousands of U.S. patients who receive health care through programs like Medicare and Medicaid, costing beneficiaries and taxpayers billions of dollars annually. In fact, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures these drugs, Novo Nordisk, charges patients in this country up to 15 times more for them than their peers in Canada, Japan or Europe pay. By using its authority to license competition for Ozempic and Wegovy, HHS would enable a decrease in the prescription costs that would result in significant savings for patients and taxpayers. By authorizing generic competitors to these drugs, HHS would end the price gouging.

Lead Organization

Public Citizen

More Information

Read the letter here.

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