Generics Drugstore Touts Radical Rebates
Under the name Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs Company (MCCPD), the billionaire US investor of the same name is backing an online pharmacy offering what he says are more than 100 generic drugs at an affordable price. The platform’s goal is to be “radically transparent” in its price negotiations with drugmakers.
As a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler, MCCPD purchases drugs directly from manufacturers, bypassing distributors, and the company says this allows it to lower the price of more than 100 medications. Sometimes the price gap is enormous. The off-patent leukemia treatment imatinib branded by Novartis as Gleevec costs $47 a month on MCCPDC compared to the $9,657 retail price.
The online pharmacy claims that its prices for generics represent a 15% margin on top of actual manufacturer prices and a $3 pharmacist fee. While MCCPDC says drugmakers’ margins are at least 100%, it quotes US business newspaper Wall Street Journal as saying they sometimes exceed 1,000%.
Though cases such as that of Turing Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli, who has been banned from the pharma industry for life due to his quadrupling of the price of a life-saving off-patent drug are still relatively rare, MCCPDC’s CEO, Alex Oshmyansky’s, outrage over the practice is credited with being the motivation for the generics drugstore.
Those buying from the website must have sufficient wealth to take advantage of the bargains. The company does not work with health insurers and requires customers to pay for their medications directly. All buyers must request a new prescription from their healthcare provider.
MCCPDC’s latest plan is construction of an $11 million pharmaceutical production facility in Dallas, Texas, due for completion by the end of this year. According to Forbes magazine, Cuban’s net worth is $4.5 billion. The investor owns the NBA team Dallas Mavericks.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
