In partnership with

Health

Novo Nordisk was grilled by the Senate

This was an uncomfortable one for the Danish executive. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions heard testimony from Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen Tuesday regarding the price of Wegovy and Ozempic, the pharmaceutical company's very popular weight loss and diabetic medications, in the US.

Are we being ripped off?

Novo Nordisk, which is worth $425 billion and whose stock has surged 335% since the pandemic, sells Ozempic at $969 and Wegovy’s at $1,350 a month in the US. Now, compare those prices to other countries, and you’ll see why Jørgensen was attending a Senate hearing:

• In Germany, Ozempic costs just $59 a month, and in the UK, Wegovy costs $92.

• Since 2018, Novo Nordisk has made almost $50 billion from these two drugs alone. Sales in the US account for about 72% of that revenue.

According to Jørgensen, Novo Nordisk actually saves taxpayers money by treating diabetes, which costs Americans more than $400 billion a year, and the reason patients find it difficult to obtain the vital drug is because of the "complex US healthcare system."

Senator Bernie Sanders told the CEO that the extreme demand combined with sky-high prices could heighten insurance premiums and even bankrupt Medicare, according to a study.

It’s all about pharmacy benefit managers: Jørgensen stated that PBMs stopped carrying the insulin medicine Levemir when Novo Nordisk cut its price, which is why he is hesitant to cut list pricing for Wegovy and Ozempic.

However, Sanders provided promises from PBMs to supply the medications even in the event that Novo Nordisk cut costs, but Jørgensen still offered no guarantees he would slash prices. What a productive hearing.

Automotive

America introduces ban on Chinese car technology

The Chinese-US EV battle continues in the biggest escalation in months. The Biden administration announced this week that the US will introduce a ban on vehicles equipped with Chinese hardware and software. Oh, and Russia is also included.

The Department of Commerce will ultimately enforce the restriction, which the White House said was introduced not for economic reasons, but national security reasons.

• Officials say that China would utilize our increasingly internet-connected vehicles for "surveillance and sabotage” by tracking Americans’ movement or executing cyber attacks.

Ban or be banned

With this latest measure, the US is adding to the automotive trade war with China, which heightened when the Biden administration quadrupled tariffs on Chinese EVs to 100% earlier this year.

The proposed ban, which would all but ensure Chinese EV brands never become household names in the US, would block “the import or sale of certain connected vehicle systems designed, developed, manufactured, or supplied by entities with a sufficient nexus to the PRC or Russia,” the administration said.

Which vehicles does it apply to?

Pretty much all of them. All vehicles on public roads, including trucks and buses, that have internet or navigation system connectivity (the majority of newer cars and all autonomous vehicles) are subject to the new ban.

• Additionally, cars with Russian software and hardware components from China or Russia would be prohibited by the act.

• The ban would likely go into effect sometime around 2027.

Although it would be extremely rare to see a Chinese car brand on US roads, you will see a lot of Chinese-made cars:

• 104,000 Chinese-built vehicles, including large brands like Buick and Volvo, were purchased by US buyers in 2023.

  • The hardware parts on these non-Chinese car brands will be prohibited starting with 2030 models, however.

Similar situation: China previously raised concerns about cybersecurity measures for cars themselves, which match with US's current concerns. In 2021, Tesla faced intense criticism in China, and the government restricted military members from operating Tesla automobiles due to security concerns.

However, Tesla was able to somehow skirt the Chinese ban and found itself on an official government purchase list this summer. Let’s hope BYD doesn’t start making humvees.

Technology

Who gets to decide what emojis we use?

I bet you haven’t seen these emojis before. You can thank me later. Emoji have completely changed the way humans connect and talk to each other, and next year we’ll be getting a whole new round of them. But who decides which ones are released?

The emoji emissaries

Have you ever wondered why all phones have similar emojis despite some looking a little more (for lack of a better word) unpolished than others?

It’s because the Unicode Consortium governs all emoji regulations and standards. Yes, I’m serious. It’s a nonprofit organization that gets funding through emoji sponsors, per The Hustle.

Some notable sponsors include:

• Buffalo Wild Wings, which aptly sponsors the drumstick.

• Red Lobster, which you never would’ve guessed, sponsors the red lobster.

• USA Pears sponsors the pear, Ford sponsors two car emojis, Avocados From Mexico sponsors the Avocado, White Unicorn Agency sponsors the unicorn, and so on.

But not all of them line up:

• Google sponsors the burger emoji. For some reason.

• Oakland Athletics sponsors the tree and elephant.

• And some dude Scott Spears (?) pays for the eggplant emoji. Nice.

Emoji sponsors help the organization keep the database up and running, much like brick fundraising at stadiums or zoos.

What about the new emoji? As seen above, the “I’m so done today I could step in front of a train” emoji is finally coming due to popular demand. Not to mention the fingerprint, beet, dead tree, and shovel emoji make an appearance. Plus whatever Grimace created.

Receive Honest News Today

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Sign up today!

Housing

Wanna live in a Costco apartment? Now you can

Your bed could only be feet away from a 72-pound cheese wheel and a $17k studio shed. A new Costco is being built in Los Angeles but with a different kind of bulking… residential apartments. It will be the first apartment complex in history with a Costco as its base floor. What a time to be alive.

Bulk housing

The unprecedented Costco apartment complex will house hundreds of apartments in addition to its 180,000-square-foot warehouse on the ground floor. But it isn’t just a novelty: the construction project is the first to use a new state statute intended to increase California's infamously limited housing supply.

Costco collaborated with the housing developer Thrive Living, which will construct apartments on top of the warehouse store to get around some of the regulations governing commercial development approvals.

• The community will have a rooftop pool, basketball court, communal gardens, secure parking, gym, and various play structures.

  • The 800-unit condo will also have 23% of its units reserved for low-income households.

• Plus, the community is projected to gain 400 jobs from the construction of the Costco store, which will also feature an optics store, a pharmacy, and delivery services.

Contrary to the behemoth size of the Costco, however, the apartments themselves range from 350 to 600 square feet. Thrive Living described the spaces as “a cost-effective and innovative modular design that enables the delivery of high-quality housing at below-market rates.”

The Goldman Sachs office can be your new home

If you can’t be an investment banker, you can literally dream of being one… in their former HQ. New Yorkers who want a good view and a bedroom corner office can now lease an apartment in Goldman Sachs's former headquarters, just a minute walk from the NYSE.

The change from office to apartment is a part of a growing trend, according to a recent survey: 50% of all development sales in Manhattan during the first six months of 2024 were office-to-residential conversion deals.

Sleeping in the corner office

According to Bloomberg, Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft purchased the office skyscraper last year and anticipate that all 571 units will be finished within the first six months of next year.

• Three-bedroom apartments will run you $10,000 per month, while studio apartments cost $4,000.

The former Goldman Sachs headquarters at 55 Broad St happens to be the most recent office-to-residential conversion, and as more people choose to work from home, many offices have closed, leaving developers to search for new, creative uses for the often outdated structures.

But why not just keep it as an office? Because it saves a whole lot of cash. Once completed, the property conversion is expected to cost about 60% of a brand-new apartment structure, according to Metro Loft CEO Nathan Berman. Plus, it also avoids going through the laborious permitting procedure that comes with constructing a new building.

Fast Facts

Astro Arrival: This week, an American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts—one of whom had just finished the longest space mission in history—returned to Earth from the International Space Station.

Criminal Criticism: A top Chinese economist disappeared after criticizing Xi Jinping’s handling of the country’s economy in a private group chat, the WSJ reported. 

Ring Recovery: A website that deals in selling items from abandoned luggage in airports published a report detailing all the unusual belongings they discovered. The most expensive one being a $37,000 diamond ring. Think the marriage is off?

Declassified Diplomat: The sunken superyacht of British tech magnate Mike Lynch may have sensitive intelligence data of interest to foreign governments locked in safes, CNN reported.

Sandy Sharks: Sand tiger sharks are swimming back to the Boston harbor after years of cleaning and pollution reduction has made the population rebound.