Taking Stock in Big Pharma
Billionaire Mark Cuban wants to pull the pharmaceutical industry up by the roots and plant something new.
In the next issue, Luckbox leans in with Cuban for details on how his new online marketplace called Cost Plus Drugs Company plans to offer prescription drugs at transparent prices lower than most retail pharmacies and even most discount sites.
On the surface, Cost Plus Drugs uses a time-tested business model: “Cut out the middlemen and pass the savings on to you.” But it goes deeper than that.
Cost Plus Drugs negotiates directly with drug makers, sidestepping the layers of markups common in the industry. It also offers radical cost transparency, pricing all medications at cost, plus a 15% markup.
And, as a non-profit company categorized by some states as a public-benefit corporation, Cost Plus Drugs said it makes achieving its social mission— reducing overall drug prices for Americans—crucial to its definition of success.
The costplusdrugs.com online pharmacy launched in January 2022 and now carries nearly 1,000 prescription drugs. Cuban is also building a Texas factory to make some drugs in-house.
Find out more about Cost Plus Drugs and the future of big pharma, including which drug stocks are in the best position going into 2023, in the February/March issue.
