Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company is now selling three brand-name drugs made by the Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit at Johnson and Johnson (J&J)—diabetes drugs Invokana, Invokamet, and Invokamet XR, announced in an April 3 tweet.

While other drug companies have made similar moves to sell cheaper versions of branded drugs in the past, it appears the deal with Cost Plus, where the original drug is sold at a steep discount, is unique, Antonio Ciaccia, CEO of drug pricing nonprofit 46brooklyn Research and president of consulting firm 3 Axis Advisors, told Healthcare Brew.

Since launching in January 2022, Cost Plus has focused solely on generic drugs and sells about 1,000 generics. The company started its foray into branded drugs in March 2023 to dispense Tirosint, a synthetic hormone used to treat hypothyroidism, through an agreement with IBSA Pharma. Tirosint is one of the most commonly dispensed prescriptions in the US, with about 99 million prescriptions in 2020.

But the Janssen deal is a much bigger move from Cost Plus, as Invokana has made headlines for years for its inflated prices, he said.

Buying Invokana from a pharmacy usually costs about $640 per month. Cost Plus is selling a month’s supply for $243.09.

Why hasn’t Cuban offered branded drugs before? Some critics have pointed to Cost Plus’s lack of brand-name drugs in the past, but breaking into the branded drugs market can be a lot more expensive than offering generic drugs.

With generics, drugmakers have to compete with each other on price. That means they can’t hike the prices too much or else they’ll lose out to their competitors. Companies like Cost Plus can buy the drugs more easily since they’re significantly cheaper than branded drugs.

Keep reading here.—MA

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Maia at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Maia for her number on Signal.

The pandemic, combined with a shortage of mental health providers, has worsened a mental health crisis among kids in the US. The crisis is now the top patient-safety concern for 2023, according to a report from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and ECRI, the largest nonprofit patient-safety organization in the US.

The crisis disproportionately affects children of color and LGBTQ youth, as they are more likely to experience depression and anxiety and attempt suicide. They also have the least access to high-quality mental healthcare, according to Dheerendra Kommala, chief medical officer at ECRI.

Some stats:

• Anxiety rates in kids ages 3 to 17 increased by 29% in 2020 compared to 2016, and depression rates went up by 27% over the same time period.
• The number of weekly emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts by children was 39% higher in 2021 compared to 2019.
• Just 50% of kids and young adults ages 5 to 21 with major depression get a diagnosis. Of those with a diagnosis, just 40% receive any mental health treatment.

Experts from the ECRI recommended pediatric providers incorporate mental health screenings into every visit. The screenings vary based on the age of the child, but for adolescents, a validated screening for depression consists of nine questions and takes about 10 minutes to complete, Tom Zaubler, a clinical psychiatrist and the chief medical officer for NeuroFlow, a digital health company that connects patients with mental health professionals, told Healthcare Brew.

After the screening, there needs to be a “warm handoff,” Zaubler said. That’s when a pediatrician introduces a patient to a mental health provider in person, rather than just writing them a referral.

Keep reading here.—MA

On Fridays, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

This week’s Making Rounds spotlights Jenni Nolan, a board-certified patient advocate and owner of Clear Healthcare Advocacy, which helps patients understand their medical bills and insurance claims to look for and resolve possible errors. She works with billing offices on the behalf of her clients to potentially reduce their balance and set up payment plans.

Nolan, who is based in Carmel, Indiana, spoke about her journey into patient billing advocacy and the tools she uses to help negotiate client medical bills.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How did you get involved in patient billing advocacy?

As a profession, it is relatively new. I’m a board-certified patient advocate, and the board certification just came about in 2018. I got certified in 2019. An independent patient advocate like myself, we are looking out for the patient—we’re hired by the patient.

I became obsessed with medical billing when I worked as a physician office manager for an OB practice. I would research every claim that we sent out the door. There were so many errors that I just became obsessed with the whole thing. Then I started noticing here at home—I’ve got me and my husband and four kids—and they say that anywhere between 30%–80% of medical bills are incorrect—I can guarantee you that at least 30% of the ones that come into my home are not correct. So I just started thinking, “This is horrible, and what do people do who don’t understand it?” I started researching “patient advocate.” And I was thinking, “This is an actual thing—I can do this, and people will actually pay me to do it.”

Keep reading here.—KW

Do you work in healthcare or have information about the industry that we should know? Email Kristine at [email protected]. For completely confidential conversations, ask Kristine for her number on Signal.

Today’s top healthcare reads.

Stat: Pediatric gun deaths rose by 50% in the last two years. (Axios)

Quote: “We’re both doing a lot just to take care of me right now. It’s possible we’ll get to a place where we’d be able to [have a child], but it feels a lot harder now.”—a Massachusetts woman with long Covid who is reassessing her plans around having children because of her illness (Time)

Read: A biotech co-founder and CEO weighs in on the lack of scientific research around women’s bodies, calling it a $150 billion problem. (Fast Company)

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Catch up on the top Healthcare Brew stories you may have missed:

• NYC mulls hospital price transparency measure
• Non-MDs will provide primary care as physicians retire in droves
• eConsults technology shakes up traditional doctor referral process