Mark Cuban says Martin Shkreli inspired him to create Cost Plus Drugs

Pharmaceutical darling Mark Cuban was inspired by pharmaceutical villain Martin Shkreli. At least that’s what Cuban Kare Swisher of Recode said at this year’s Code conference.

“If he could raise things 1500 percent or something, why can’t we cut them down, right? Because it shows price fungibility,” says Cuban, co-founder Cost plus drugs, said. He was referring to Shkreli, who rose to fame at the helm of Turing Pharmaceuticals, where he raised the price of a drug used to treat AIDS, malaria and cancer. over 5000 percent.

About 18 million Americans were unable to pay for prescription drugs, according to a survey last year. Gallup and West Health.

Cuban, better known as the internet billionaire, shark tank investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks. wide praised for helping lower the price of prescription drugs for Americans. Cost Plus Drugs says it saves customers money by bypassing regular pharmacy benefit managers who negotiate drug prices for employers and governments, but have been criticized for not passing on enough savings to consumers. While Cuban’s service is for people without insurance or high deductibles, Cuban believes that creating a transparent pricing system — Cost Plus charges customers the cost of drugs plus 15 percent, $3 for pharmacy and $5 for delivery — will help keep the cost of insurance premiums down. . for all.

Shkreli recently shot a Cuban in News bulletin claiming the billionaire had overstated his company’s cost savings. At the beginning of this year, Shkreli was banned from the pharmaceutical industry and fined $64 million. He was imprisoned on an unrelated charge and released this spring.

Cuban’s company has only been doing this for about seven months, so it remains to be seen to what extent it can help reduce Americans’ prescription drug costs.

“If someone came up to you and said, ‘Here’s a way for us to solve a huge problem and make people’s lives better, and you can probably go broke if not making money doing it,'” Cuban told the audience. – Why not?