Mark Cuban, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, on bringing transparency to pharmacy

The Pulse by Wharton Digital Health

Our guest on this episode is Mark Cuban. In addition to a storied business career that includes owning the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and a role on ABC's Shark Tank, Mark is the founder and lead investor in the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a generic pharmaceutical distributor that prices medications at cost, plus a 15% administrative markup and any relevant pharmacy and shipping fees. Founded in early 2022, over 1.7M patients have signed up for the service in their first year, and Cost Plus Drugs now offers over 1,000 generic medications for purchase on their website. Mark founded the company with CEO Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, a pediatric radiologist who originally tried to start an organization similar to Cost Plus Drugs as a non-profit, before pivoting and convincing Mark to be his partner. In this episode, I spoke with Mark about his journey to starting Cost Plus Drugs, how the company is able to drive down prices so drastically compared to the existing players, and how incumbents, such as traditional pharmacy benefit managers and new entrants, such as the Amazon RxPass, will impact the success of Cost Plus Drugs.