Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk Spend $10.4M Lobbying to Shield GLP-1 Drugs from Medicare Pricing

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk reported combined 2023 federal lobbying expenditures exceeding $10.4 million, with efforts specifically targeted at the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The primary objective: ensuring blockbuster GLP-1 drugs like Zepbound and Wegovy remain exempt from Medicare price negotiations. While Novo Nordisk reported a 37% increase in net profit to $12.1 billion in 2023, the company continues to charge American patients $1,349 per month for Wegovy—a drug that retails for just $140 in Germany.

Money flows directly to the legislators overseeing the industry. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee received over $1.2 million in pharmaceutical PAC contributions during the 2024 election cycle. Under the leadership of Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, key drug-pricing transparency and Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reform bills have stalled. This legislative friction serves as a firewall for Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks and Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, allowing their firms to exploit a 2003 loophole that excludes weight-loss medications from Medicare coverage.

The influence is fueled by a sophisticated revolving-door system. Currently, more than 45 former Congressional staffers and former Members of Congress are registered as lobbyists for these two companies. Firms like Capitol Counsel and Mehlman Consulting employ these 'hired guns'—individuals who often helped write the very health laws they are now paid seven-figure salaries to circumvent. They are tasked with maintaining the status quo where foundational research, often funded by public NIH grants, is privatized for record corporate gain.

Mainstream narratives often frame high prices as the necessary cost of the 'American innovation engine.' However, financial disclosures reveal both companies spend significantly more on stock buybacks and direct-to-consumer advertising than on the clinical R&D of these specific molecules. By flooding the airwaves with 'innovation-at-risk' messaging, they distract from the reality that the public is paying twice: once to fund the research and again at the pharmacy counter.

For the American senior, this lobbying victory is a financial defeat. The exclusion of these drugs from Medicare Part D forces patients to choose between groceries and life-altering medications that prevent heart disease and stroke. As long as the 'revolving door' between Capitol Hill and Big Pharma remains open, the metabolic health of the American public will remain a secondary concern to the preservation of high-margin private sector dominance.