Novo Nordisk reaches medicare pricing deal for Ozempic ingredient
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk has agreed on a Medicare pricing deal for semaglutide, the active ingredient in its blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, easing investor concerns over steep U.S. pricing cuts.
The agreement, announced alongside third-quarter earnings, comes under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which requires drugmakers to negotiate prices for select high-cost medicines covered by Medicare, the federal health program serving more than 60 million Americans, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
The new price will take effect in 2027. Novo did not disclose the negotiated figure, but said that if the price had been applied this year, it would have caused a “low-single-digit” decline in sales.
Analysts read the tone as reassuring. JP Morgan estimated the hit could be around 6 billion Danish crowns (roughly $937 million), noting the outcome appeared “better than feared” and may cushion sentiment following Novo’s fourth downgrade to its 2025 financial outlook this year.
Shares initially dipped but reversed course, rising 2.2% by mid-morning in Europe. Markus Manns, a fund manager and Novo investor at Union Investment, also described the implied price cut as “less than feared.”
The announcement comes a day after reports that both Novo Nordisk and U.S. rival Eli Lilly — maker of Mounjaro and Zepbound — are expected to finalize pricing deals with the Trump administration in exchange for Medicare coverage of their weight-loss drugs.
Ozempic and Wegovy are among 15 medicines included in the second round of Medicare price negotiations under the 2022 law.
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