On Tuesday an American Senate committee will grill Lars Jorgensen, the boss of Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical firm, over the high prices of the company’s diabetes and obesity medications. The drugs, called GLP-1, are extremely popular. But according to KFF, a health think-tank, Americans pay around $1,350 a month for Novo’s slimming jabs, more than four times as much as Germans. Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont who leads the committee, believes that alternatives could be sold for as little as $100 per month. But they will not be available any time soon owing to patent protections. Another solution to lowering prices is through insurance. Medicare, America’s public-health insurer for the elderly, is barred from covering anti-obesity medicines. But evidence is growing that GLP
-1 drugs can help with diseases of the heart, kidney and liver. Mr Jorgensen will try to convince lawmakers (and insurers) that the drugs’ wider uses justify their hefty prices.
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