Mark Cuban, Discount Drug Entrepreneur

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

American billionaire Mark Cuban appears to be one of the good guys - a filthy rich individual who has a genuine interest in helping those less fortunate than himself.

Cuban announced earlier this week that he has gone into the discount prescription drug business.  Apparently it is a venture that he began funding in 2018 as a response to some of the pharmaceutical outrages that were then making news.  Cuban and a physician partner began communicating with drug manufacturers to see what types of deals they could negotiate in order to buy large quantities of drugs at the most reasonable prices.  Their intent was to then pass most of those savings on to consumers while still managing to make a profit.

Federal law, which has been shaped by lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry, does not allow the US government to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers in order to obtain favorable pricing for Medicare beneficiaries and people enrolled in private plans - while other countries, such as Canada, can negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of their citizenry.

And now private players, like Mark Cuban, are also wheeling and dealing with the drug manufacturers, and Cuban is using his economic muscle to help ordinary people who are struggling to stay or get healthy while being financially disadvantaged.

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company operates as an on-line pharmacy.  It does not currently accept insurance, but, even so, its prices are often lower than what many people with insurance pay.  The available drugs and current pricing are all listed on-line, and people may access the service by having their doctor send a prescription directly to the company where it is then filled and shipped directly to the consumer.   The price includes a 15% mark-up on the cost that the company has paid to the manufacturer, a three-dollar pharmacist fee, and five dollars shipping.

Mark Cuban is a businessman and he is still making a profit on this venture - but he is not making an obscene profit like Joe Manchin's daughter who price-gouged epi-pens, or pharma bro Martin Shkreli who price-gouged the life-saving drug Daraprim, or the Sackler family whose wealth increased by obscene amounts as a result of the opioid epidemic.  

Mark Cuban is a businessman with a conscience, and perhaps even a soul.  He may yet reach an age when he wants to use his money to fly off into the stars, but for now Cuban is grounded here on Earth and he is flexing some of his economic muscle to benefit others.  

One suspects that somewhere a camel may be preparing to pass through the eye of a needle!