DOSE OF REALITY: BIG PHARMA’S PATENT ABUSE EXTENDING MONOPOLIES, KEEPING PRICES HIGH ON GLP-1S

Novo Nordisk Alone Has Filed 320 Patents on Single Active Ingredient Behind Blockbuster Brand Name Drugs for Diabetes and Weight Loss

A new report from the Initiative for Medicine, Access and Knowledge (I-MAK) highlights how Big Pharma giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are gaming the U.S. patent system to extend monopolies and keep prices high on blockbuster GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. 

Novo Nordisk has filed 320 U.S. patent applications, with 154 being granted for semaglutide, the same active ingredient in Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy. The report found that “the main compound patent for semaglutide as used in the three drugs was set to expire in March 2026, it said, but regulatory extensions have lengthened Novo’s exclusivity until December 2031.” I-MAK estimates that this five-year period will grant Novo Nordisk an additional $166 billion.  

The report also found, “Eli Lilly has filed 53 U.S. patent applications and been granted 16 patents,” on its two blockbuster GLP-1 products, Mounjaro and Zepbound, which also rely on the same active ingredient. 

And while gaming the patent system to block competition and extend monopolies, these Big Pharma giants are also prioritizing profits over research and development (R&D). For example, Novo Nordisk has spent 41 percent more on dividends and buybacks than R&D, according to the report. 

“The patent thicket protecting products containing semaglutide exemplifies how pharmaceutical companies leverage minor modifications with the intention of delaying competition and extending product profitability far beyond the lifecycle of the main compound,” I-MAK writes. 

Read the full report from I-MAK HERE, and get a Dose of Reality on Big Pharma’s egregious anti-competitive and pricing tactics around GLP-1s below.

Big Pharma Recently Hiked Prices On Brand Name GLP-1s

The brand name drug companies who market these drugs have already begun hiking prices. “In January, Novo Nordisk increased prices on its Ozempic product, approved for type 2 diabetes, by three percent. Novo Nordisk increased the price of Ozempic by 3.5 percent in 2024 and in 2023 by 4.9 percent. Eli Lilly increased prices on its Mounjaro GLP-1 type 2 diabetes product earlier this year by one percent, by 4.5 percent in 2024 and five percent in 2023.”

Big Pharma’s Egregious Pricing of GLP-1 Drugs in the U.S.

An August 2023 analysis from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker found that list prices for several blockbuster GLP-1 drugs, including Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus products, as well as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, are significantly higher in the U.S. compared to other wealthy countries.

Brand name drug maker Novo Nordisk, for example, has set the U.S. list price for a monthly supply of Ozempic at $936 in the U.S., versus $169 in Japan. This means the company is charging patients 5.5 times more in the U.S. than in Japan for the same drug.

For Wegovy, the U.S. list price is $1,349, while the next highest price in a comparable country is $328 in Germany, again meaning U.S. patients pay more than four times more than the next comparable country for the same prescription drug.

Egregious GLP-1 Prices to Increase Health Care Costs for Employers

According to new research from the Business Group on Health and professional services firm Aon, health care costs for employers are expected to increase next year driven by Big Pharma’s egregious prices for blockbuster GLP-1 drugs and out-of-control prices on gene and cell therapy treatments. “GLP-1s and multimillion-dollar gene therapies,” are the “major culprits,” according to coverage of the analysis in Axios.

Research firm Aon anticipates companies’ health care costs will increase by nine percent next year. The Business Group on Health expects costs to increase by close to eight percent.

56 percent of respondents in the Business Group on Health’s survey expect GLP-1s to be a “great” or “very great” driver of increased costs. Meanwhile, 46 percent of respondents expect high-cost cell and gene therapies to be a “great” or “very great” driver of costs. These were the leading two answers in the survey over the next closest response by 20 percentage points.

Read the full report from I-MAK HERE.

Read about how Big Pharma’s egregious prices on GLP-1 diabetes and weight loss drugs are leading to unsustainable costs for the health care system HERE.

Read more on bipartisan, market-based solutions to hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.