Mark Cuban chats drug costs with Scripta

Billionaire Mark Cuban sat down with Eric Levin, co-founder and CEO of prescription navigation company Scripta, on Nov. 18 to discuss drug prices.

At the helm of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, the former “shark” has set his sights in recent years on calling out pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and lowering medication costs for patients.

This fireside chat came soon after the Trump administration announced TrumpRx, a marketplace where patients will be able to purchase medications directly from drug companies at a discount, though mostly out of pocket. More biotechs quickly launched direct-to-consumer offerings as a result, and Cost Plus Drugs jumped on the TrumpRx bandwagon on Oct. 20.

Cuban spoke with Levin about these changes in drug access and the lingering challenges around high medication costs. Here are five takeaways from the conversation.

‘Portal for best prices.’ When asked about TrumpRx and its potential impact on the industry, Cuban said he considers it a “portal for best prices,” as drug companies will be able to feature their “best prices.”

‘The biggest lie in all of pharmacy.’ Cuban also came in hot against PBMs, which have been accused of inflating drug prices, calling on them to “just be transparent.”

“If you’re so good at negotiating prices and you’ve got all this scale, then just show me your prices. Show me your rebates,” he said.

Cuban also said the “biggest lie in all of pharmacy” is when PBMs say they are negotiating better pricing. He said they talk about optimizing wellness and reducing spending for consumers, but they aren’t doing either.

“They’re stealing from you. They’re ripping you off,” he said.

CEO conversations. Cuban also spoke about how little CEOs generally know about PBMs and drug pricing. When asked by Cuban who in the pharmacy supply chain wants to lower costs, Levin responded that it’s “only the buyers.”

“You’re working with these vertically integrated companies that game the system to no end, and the CEO just doesn’t understand that,” Cuban said.

Provider network. Cuban talked about creating a provider network called Cost Plus Wellness, which he said is still in the beta phase, where his company will publicly post provider contracts and prices paid for care to boost transparency.

‘Opacity pays their bills.’ While he said clinicians do hard work, big insurance companies and the PBMs “know that opacity pays their bills.” So keeping things unclear pays off for them, he said, which is why he’s urging for more transparency.