Sanders Efforts Highlight Americans' Need for Affordable Rx Importation

Now is The Time For Affordable & Safe Prescription Drug Importation

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, September 27, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today the Campaign for Personal Prescription Importation commented on Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), efforts to reign in Big Pharma price gouging on Wegovy and Ozempic.

“Senator Sanders’ commitment to ensuring Americans’ access to affordable prescription medication is extraordinary, and we hope he will reintroduce the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act. Sanders’ highlights of price differentials between U.S. prescription drugs and those of Canada and other countries underscore the importance of ensuring Americans' access to importation,” says CPPI Executive Director Jack Pfeiffer. “We applaud his efforts to reign in Big Pharma price gouging.”

For over a decade, the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act has been championed by Senator Sanders. The American public has long supported prescription importation from Canada as a solution to high drug costs in the U.S. 2019 Kaiser Family Foundation polling found 78% of the public favors allowing Americans to buy prescription drugs imported from licensed Canadian pharmacies. This proposal has broad support across party lines – 75% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and 75% of Republicans. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately five million Americans import their medications due to high costs.

On September, 24, Chairman Sanders held a HELP Committee hearing at which Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jørgensen testified about the high cost of Ozempic and Wegovy. The hearing followed recent Committee investigative work which showed that more than 40,000 lives a year could be saved if Wegovy was made widely available and affordable to Americans. Their investigation also showed that Novo Nordisk charges Americans $969 a month for Ozempic and $1,349 a month for Wegovy, while the same medications can be purchased at a fraction of the price from Canada, Germany and other countries.

Last week Sanders announced that more than 250 clinicians from across the country are asking Congress to rein in exorbitant prices for novel diabetes and obesity treatments Ozempic and Wegovy.

“Doctors across this country are sick and tired of seeing their patients ripped off by giant pharmaceutical companies,” said Sanders. “If Novo Nordisk does not end its greed and substantially reduce the price of these drugs, we must do everything we can to end it for them.”

“Prescription importation is the only immediate solution to ensure Americans access to affordable medications. For these reasons, it’s time for Congress and the Administration to act now on delivering immediate relief to American patients by advancing the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act,” says CPPI Executive Director Jack Pfeiffer.

Jack Pfeiffer
CPPI
+1 202-641-8574
jack.pfeiffer@personalimportation.org
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