Mark Cuban working to change pharmacy pricing, make them more transparent

(FOX 9) - Mark Cuban is best known for business and basketball, but lately his passion has been shaking up the pharmaceutical world by showing the wholesale costs of many generic drugs and an independent pharmacist from Minnesota was among those he consulted with for wholesale pricing.

Cost Plus Drugs    

What we know:

Mark Cuban is going after the country’s biggest Pharmacy Benefit Managers or PBMs. That includes Optum Rx in Eden Prairie. PBMs are supposed to negotiate drug prices for insurance plans, but the Federal Trade Commission is sometimes artificially inflating prices and driving consumers into their own pharmacy systems, like mail order.

The Federal Trade Commission has accused PBMs of driving independent pharmacists out of business. Cuban has consulted with an advocacy group for independent pharmacists as he was building Cost Plus Drugs and that includes Deb Keaveny in Winsted, Minnesota.

"If you what the drug costs and exactly what you’re going to pay for it and how it all works with the pharmacy and everything, there’s no smoke and mirrors," says Keaveny.

"It’s all transparent and that’s what he’s fighting for," she adds.

TV personality Mark Cuban attends the Build series to Discuss "Shark Tank" at Build Studio on February 8, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Jim Spellman/WireImage) (Getty Images)

Investigations into PBMs

The backstory:

Cuban is mostly carrying generic drugs right now, but hopes to get into more brand name drugs. He shows you what you pay wholesale and he adds on 15 percent to cover operational costs.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued two investigative reports on the three biggest PBMs, which control the pricing on 80 percent of prescription drugs in America. The FTC found that on some lifesaving generic drugs, the agency found PBMs were artificially inflating prices 100% to 1000% or more.

For example, the report says a pulmonary hypertension drug named Tadalafil can be purchased by pharmacies for about $27 per 30 day supply. In 2022, the FTC says it found the PBMs marked it up to $2079 for a customer getting the drug through insurance which impacts employers and customers with high deductibles. It can now be purchased through Cuban’s site for $6.60.

The drug dimethyl fumarate used for multiple sclerosis was found by the FTC to be marked up by $3,753 on average in 2022 for a 30-day supply for patients going through insurance.  But the acquisition cost was $177 for pharmacies.    It can be purchased for $34.61 on Cuban’s site. 

What they're saying:

The three biggest PBMs are Optum Rx, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark.   They say they are lowering the costs of specialty medications and that they provide clinical expertise, programs and support for patients with rare conditions.   Optum says it helped patients save $1.3 B and that the median out of pocket cost for patients was $5 in 2024.   Express Scripts says the FTC reporting has been misleading because it was based on a small sample of medications.

Dig deeper:

FOX 9 continues to cover this issue, and you can check out our previous reports here:

• Healthcare insurance companies blamed for 'pharmacy deserts' in Minnesota
• Generic prescription drug prices marked up as high as 5,000%, investigation finds
• FTC says Optum, other prescription benefit managers inflate cancer drug prices 1,000%
• Prime Therapeutics ordered to pay $10 million for price fixing
• Wisconsin couple sues Optum Rx and Walgreens for son’s asthma death