Those of you who watch Shark Tank know that Mark Cuban is one of the “sharks” on that reality show. He’s also the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, among other businesses. I’d never heard of him. But I recently learned, from Bob Sutherland, relative-in-law, that Cuban started a business selling affordable generic drugs.
Cuban got into the business after being contacted by Dr.
Alex Oshmyansky, a radiologist, asking if he (Cuban) would consider investing
in a company that sells generic medications for roughly the cost of production.
Cuban would and he did. He and Oshmayansky started Cost Plus Drugs in January,
2022, offering around 1,000 medications in the U.S.
Cost Plus cuts out middlemen and keeps the cost close to the
manufacturer’s price, selling generic medications for the cost of
manufacturing, plus a 15% markup and shipping fees. (Hospitals can sell cancer
drugs at a 600% markup.)
Here’s an example of their pricing for a 30-count supply
of 400 mg Imatnib:
Cost to produce: $27.90
Cost Plus markup: $4.20 (15%)
Pharmacists’ time: $3.00
Shipping:. $.48 (plus carrier’s costs)
Total: $35.10, compared with $9,657.30 retail
price for the same drug.
One customer reported saving more than $600 for a
three-month supply of his diabetes and blood pressure
meds. A study by the Journal of Clinical Oncology reports that the
U.S. government could save taxpayers between $228 million and $2.15 billion a
year if insurers who operate its Medicare Part D plans purchased seven generic
oncology drugs at the same prices obtained by Cuban’s outfit.
The idea, according to Cuban is to “disrupt the drug
industry.” Cuban’s Web site is worth a visit: https://costplusdrugs.com/
For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.
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