Anirban Das

Two weeks ago, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC) released an online pharmacy. The release comes simply months after its pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) operation becomes established. MCCPDC has been a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler for greater than a year, however, to start with it only stocked a handful of medicine. It now purchases greater than a hundred generic medicines immediately from manufacturers, bypassing middlemen to substantially decrease prices. It is essentially a 503(b) compounding pharmacy, centered on drugs that appear on the Food and Drug Administration’s shortage list. On February 15th, the business enterprise introduced price drops on 4 medicines. This is an innovative online generic medicine for the prescription drug market.

There is no query that Mark Cuban’s mission will have an effect, however, will it be as disruptive to the prescription drug marketplace as a few withinside the media project? Not to start with. The business enterprise’s effect on the drug marketplace as an entire may be confined through the range and type (generic) of medicine offered, as nicely because it is a cash-simplest system. The business enterprise’s origins move lower back to 2018 when Dr. Alex Oshmyansky based Osh Affordable Pharmaceuticals. Mark Cuban financially subsidized Oshmyansky’s efforts, and greater than a year in the past the company was renamed. The company’s venture declaration describes how it is dedicated to producing low-price variations of high-cost generic drugs. Here, the said intention is to be “radically transparent” in its fee negotiations with drug companies. Cuban’s company we could all stakeholders recognize what it expenses to manufacture, distribute, and marketplace its pills. According to the business enterprise website, there may be no hidden expenses, no middlemen, and no rebates which are simplest to be had to health insurers or pharmacy gain managers. “Everybody gets the same low price for every drug we make.” The company says it's going to purchase immediately from third-party providers or manufacture its very own merchandise and promote at a steep cut price with a 15% mark-up, plus a $three pharmacist fee.

Moreover, through providing advanced get right of entry to to sure lifesaving pills that patients rely on, MCCDPC is providing a precious service. In a declaration, Alex Oshmyansky said “it's miles vital that we take motion and assist amplify get right of entry to to those medicines for folks who want them most.” Indeed, MCCPDC presently gives pills to deal with plenty of illnesses, such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, and cardiovascular conditions. But, confined services and being a cash-simplest commercial enterprise reduce the disruptive effect of Cuban’s innovative online pharmacy on the prescription drug market as a whole.