Novo Nordisk Gains as CEO Favors Trump Plan to Limit Rebates (1)

Novo Nordisk A/S came out in favor of a Trump administration proposal to limit discounts pharma companies pay middlemen, which cost the world’s biggest maker of diabetes drugs $17 billion a year and are criticized for driving up prices for patients.

Novo rose as much as 4 percent in Copenhagen Feb. 1, the most since November, as investors welcomed the possibility of an end to the rebates along with the company’s forecast for higher profit this year. The U.S. proposal, outlined Jan. 31, would ban rebates drugmakers pay to benefit managers in government programs such as Medicare, a major provider ...