Nearly three years after its launch, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. now manufactures injectables in shortage, works with thousands of healthcare facilities, including pharmacies, hospitals, long-term care sites and clinics, and offers more than 2,000 discounted generics and about a dozen branded medicines.
In an email Q&A with Becker's, Mark Cuban said his pharmaceutical company's central theme in 2024 has been exponential growth.
"But beyond that," Mr. Cuban said, "Not much :)."
Cost Plus Drugs' CEO and co-founder, Alex Oshmyansky, MD, PhD, told Becker's in June that the company directly works with 38 of the 40 largest generic manufacturers and multiple secondary distributors. These relationships have helped Cost Plus Drugs supply cheaper medications for hundreds of medical centers, including Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, Louisville, Ky.-based ScionHealth and Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine.
With its model of selling medicines at cost plus a 15% markup and $10 for shipping and pharmacy labor, several large pharmaceutical companies — including CVS and Express Scripts — have followed Cost Plus Drugs' example.
In August, Mr. Cuban said Cost Plus Drugs would soon publish its own contracts to offer more transparency in an infamously opaque $4.3 trillion industry. He has also said the pharmaceutical industry has been his easiest industry to disrupt. As of June, the company was operating in a deficit.
Here's what Mr. Cuban shared with Becker's about his 2025 plans. Answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Question: What are your top priorities for 2025? By this time next year, what specific goals do you hope your company will have achieved, and how will these initiatives affect Cost Plus Drugs or the broader healthcare sector?
Mark Cuban: First is to stay on our mission of adding every medication we are legally allowed to sell. We don't have as many brands as we would like. I see that changing rapidly through our own rebate aggregator and our partnership with others.
I also see our partnerships with pass-through PBMs [growing] considerably. We currently have more than 25 partners. We are working together to help sponsor[s] cut their costs and improve their wellness.
I also see us expanding our biosimilar portfolio considerably through a variety of approaches.
Finally, we will start posting our Cost Plus Wellness Direct contracts with healthcare providers for anyone to leverage and learn from.
Q: What key insights or final thoughts would you like to share with Becker's audience? Are there any emerging trends, strategies or lessons from your experience that you would like to add?
MC: The industry, on the care and pharmacy sides, have seen power consolidated in a few players. This is finally the year that can change. It is possible to align the incentives of providers, tax payers and patients, and I think we will finally see that start to happen.