Mark Cuban gives medicine the direct-to-consumer treatment

The cut-out-the-middleman strategy

Hello? Why has no one started this company before? Direct-to-consumer has proven useful for offering customers lower prices for years. Warby Parker, Italic, and Everlane come immediately to mind. But prescription drugs? That’s an industry “ripe for disruption.” GoodRX, Capsule, and Honeybee Health are several of the available options already on the market, but Cuban’s offering is poised to manufacture, distribute, and negotiate with all the pizzazz that made Mark Cuban a billionaire.

Billionaire ambassador

In this case, it wasn’t Mark Cuban who came up with the idea, but Dr. Alex Oshmyansky, who founded the company in 2018 as Osh Affordable Pharmaceuticals. Cuban came on as a backer, and the rest is history. A recently published study found that Medicare could have saved nearly $4BN in 2020 if it purchased drugs from Cuban’s pharmacy. The policy still lags in order to make that savings a reality, but with drug savings of over $2,400 for cancer medications, this idea is a win for consumers.

Is Mark Cuban virtuous? Maybe, but he’s also out to gain. Can he do it with Cost Plus? Stay tuned.