(Bloomberg) — Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co. shares fell early Tuesday after US President Joe Biden demanded value cuts on their blockbuster medicine for diabetes and weight reduction.Most Learn from BloombergThe firms are charging “unconscionably excessive costs” which are above these paid in different international locations, Biden mentioned in an editorial with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders printed in USAToday. If “pharmaceutical firms refuse to considerably decrease prescription drug costs in our nation and finish their greed, we are going to do all the pieces inside our energy to finish it for them.”Novo fell as a lot as 3% in Copenhagen whereas Lilly misplaced 2.1% earlier than US exchanges opened. Neither firm responded instantly to requests for remark.Analysts foresee an exploding marketplace for the injected medicines, notably in preventing weight problems, which can attain $130 billion yearly by the tip of the last decade. Firms together with Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca Plc and Amgen Inc., together with a bunch of small biotechs, are racing to get competing merchandise to customers.Biden’s feedback look like “a last-ditch effort to appease sure voters,” in accordance with a be aware from Mizuho’s Jared Holz. In view of the medicine’ advantages in diabetes, coronary heart illness and different circumstances, “the worth of $1000/month for the injections truly appears very cheap.”Novo has blamed the excessive checklist value of Ozempic and Wegovy within the US on systemic points, saying in a letter to Sanders in Could that it’s ready to work with lawmakers to deal with them. Chief Government Workplace Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen is about to testify earlier than a Senate committee chaired by Sanders in September concerning the medicine’ costs.Novo has mentioned it expects reductions on each medicine to proceed to rise, particularly as extra insurers cowl Wegovy. Lilly has evaded a few of the scrutiny that Novo has been beneath to this point.Optimism over hovering gross sales of Novo’s Wegovy for weight problems and its sister drug for diabetes, Ozempic, have seen its market capitalization surge past $600 billion this 12 months, reinforcing its place as Europe’s most dear listed firm. The inventory is up greater than 80% previously 12 months and has greater than quintupled for the reason that begin of 2020.–With help from Madison Muller and Naomi Kresge.(Provides background, analyst remark from fifth paragraph.)Story continuesMost Learn from Bloomberg Businessweek©2024 Bloomberg L.P.