A recent Twitter exchange between billionaires Mark Cuban and Elon Musk may lead to employees paying less for prescriptions through Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs Co.
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Cuban founded the company with radiologist Alexander Oshmyansky to create a business that manufactures generic prescription drugs and sells them directly to consumers. The firm's goal is to cut out the local pharmacy from the prescription drug industry, treating it as an unnecessary middleman that pushes costs higher.
The company uses accredited pharmacists to fill prescriptions, review possible contradictions between medications and ensure patient safety. Cuban, the frequent investor and entrepreneur who is the biggest Shark on the reality TV show "Shark Tank," founded the company in response to frequent media stories about pharmaceutical price gouging and skyrocketing costs.
Healthcare businesses are becoming an increasingly vital part of the startup landscape. Medical debt negatively affects millions of Americans so solutions lowering costs can be life savers for those affected. Many startups continue to see success in this regard from telehealth solutions to startups like iRemedy, which created an AI procurement network for healthcare providers.
Doing Business Through Twitter
Musk became involved with talk about Cost Plus Drugs through a Twitter Inc. conversation. Twitter user Dr. Mary Talley Bowden asked Cuban why Cost Plus Drugs did not carry Ivermectin, the anti-parasite drug that was touted and debunked as a COVID-fighting drug. Cuban expressed interest in carrying the drug on the platform while finding a lower price, which is the company's core mission. During the Twitter exchange, Musk stated, "Good question" in response to the query about not carrying Ivermectin.
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Cuban responded by encouraging Musk to move Tesla and SpaceX employees to the CostPlus Drug program as a way to save them a tremendous amount of money. The combined companies employ around 140,000 people. Beyond the savings for employees, there is also the massive public relations win for Cuban and Cost Plus Drugs if Musk's companies hop on board. Musk has more than 144 million followers on Twitter, giving him a massive reach to consumers who need to purchase prescription drugs as well as fellow business leaders who listen intently to his messages and decisions. The Twitter exchange also brought the interest of Musk's sister Tosca Musk, who said her cinema streaming company Passionflix would also take a look at CostPlus Drug.
Combating Prescription Drug Markups
According to data on the Cost Plus Drugs website, there are substantial potential savings through the company's business model. For example, it says a 30-count supply of 400 mg of Imatinib, a drug used to fight leukemia costs $35.10 through Cost Plus Drugs, while it retails at $9,657.30 through other companies.
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