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WASHINGTON — With Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic hitting blockbuster sales and a new rival approved this week, everyone in Washington is thinking about how to manage the crashing wave of weight loss drug costs.

The explosive national demand for weight management therapies and diabetes drugs like Ozempic — all of which are indicated for indefinite use — has become central in an ongoing policy debate over high drug costs and controversial tactics to manage them, including President Biden’s plan to let the government negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies. Seventy percent of Americans could qualify for these medicines.

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Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate’s health policy committee, has vehemently opposed the negotiation plan, arguing it reduces incentives to develop new therapies and may not actually reduce patients’ costs.

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