Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban claimed pharmaceutical companies intentionally create drug shortages—including for life-saving medications like pediatric cancer drugs—just to boost profits.
Drug Shortages Aren’t Accidental
Cuban, who launched the online pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs in 2022, said he was shocked by how broken the current health care pricing system is. “When you think about health care, no one looks at the financial side and says, ‘This is the way it should work. It’s perfect,'” he said on the recent “Equity” podcast.
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He explained that many essential generic medications go into short supply not by accident but by design. “Believe it or not, in this day and age, there are things like pediatric cancer drugs, Pitocin, sterile water, this long list of drugs I can’t even pronounce… they go in short supply because the manufacturers want them to go on short supply,” he said. “That’s how they jack up the price.”
To combat this, Cuban said Cost Plus Drugs built a manufacturing facility in Dallas that can quickly switch to producing critical drugs in shortage. “We can turn over to a new drug in four hours and ship it out to hospitals,” he said.
Since launching, Cuban’s company has never hidden its pricing. “We released our first price list with 111 drugs Jan. 19, 2022. Here we are three and a half years later. No other company has put out a price list for all of their medications.”
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AI Could Be A Job Creator, Not A Job Killer
Cuban also shared his optimism about artificial intelligence, especially for young people entering the workforce. He believes AI skills are becoming one of the biggest equalizers in the job market.
“Kids aren’t getting jobs coming out of school. I think that’s going to change immediately for anybody who’s confident and comfortable with AI,” he said. Cuban noted that millions of small and mid-sized businesses are struggling to integrate AI, creating a huge opportunity for students and recent grads.
“If you’re confident and capable of applying that to businesses—whether it’s a shoe store, a technology company, whatever—they need to hire you,” he said.
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Independence Matters In Disrupting Big Industries
For Cuban, the key to taking on powerful industries is independence. “If I were 25 and starting this business, I probably would work through the pharmacy benefit managers because that’s where the money is,” he said. “But if we had gone that direction, like Amazon AMZN did, they’re beholden to the big pharmacy benefit managers.”
His advice to founders trying to disrupt entrenched industries: “You’ve got to be quick or you’re going to be dead. And so you’ve got to be lean, mean.”
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