On Capitol Hill lawmakers grilled the CEO of the company that makes popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.

Senators grilled Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen at a hearing on Tuesday about the cost of diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss medication Wegovy, both of which are often prohibitively expensive in the United States despite their life-saving potential.

Novo Nordisk is investing $30 billion to expand production, but middlemen are pocketing 74 cents of every dollar it makes in sales.

While grilling Novo Nordisk’s chief executive over the price of its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders alleged that 40,000 people a year in the US could die if the company doesn’t make the medicines more affordable.

What I am asking you is, if you don’t act, 40,000 people a year could die? Is this acceptable to you?” the senator asked.

WASHINGTON — Senate health committee chair Bernie Sanders said major drug middlemen have agreed not to limit coverage of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy if the company lowers the prices of the treatments. It’s Sanders’ latest move to pressure Novo to cut the prices of the blockbuster diabetes and obesity therapies.

The maker of diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy was in the hot seat Tuesday as Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders grilled him about high prices in the U.S. that far exceed the cost in

Sen. Sanders claims that the CEOs of major generic drugmakers said they produce and sell Ozempic for less $100 a month.