03:04 PM EDT, 05/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Novo Nordisk's ( NVO ) weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic could bankrupt the US health care system if the prices are not reduced, a report shared by Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Wednesday suggested.

The report was commissioned after a study found Novo Nordisk's ( NVO ) popular diabetes drug Ozempic, which is also used off-label for obesity, could be profitably made for less than $5, Bloomberg reported.

Wegovy reportedly costs $1,350 a month and is yet to be covered under private plans and the government's Medicare. It could cost more than $400 billion a year if half of American adults with obesity took it for weight loss, the committee's report said.

Without a discount, the higher of these weight-loss drugs could push consumers to spend almost $1 trillion on all prescription drugs, the report highlighted.

If the company charged these drugs at the same price it charges them in Denmark, it could save the US health care system up to $317 billion if half of the adults with obesity used them.

Novo Nordisk ( NVO ) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from MT Newswires.

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