Several years ago, the price of Daraprim, a drug routinely used to treat life-threatening parasitic infections like toxoplasmosis, surged by over 5000% percent overnight. Daraprim, also known by its generic name pyrimethamine, was acquired by Martin Shkreli and his US-based company Turing Pharmaceuticals in 2015; in just one night, Turing increased the price of one Daraprim tablet from $13.50 USD to $750 USD.

In the UK, where we are fortunate to have the equitable care of the NHS, this luckily had minimal effect on individuals. By contrast, many people in the US rely on private insurance or pay out-of-pocket for medical care, meaning the price hike had a direct and immediate impact on patients’ abilities to purchase Daraprim. For millions of people, what was once an accessible life-saving drug listed on the WHO’s List of Essential Medicines became an exclusive medication most are unable to afford.

The rise of big pharma

Across the world, the term “big pharma” has grown to become synonymous with the image of large, greedy, menacing pharmaceutical companies. Companies that pour more money into advertising and marketing than the actual research and development of medications. Companies that price drugs with excessive markups, forcing patients to pay excessive sums of money for drugs they need to survive.

The costs of many drugs, from generic medications treating hypertension and diabetes to novel therapies for hepatitis C and cancer, have spiked in recent years. As a result, an estimated 18 million Americans - or 7% of the adult population - report being unable to afford their prescribed medications. Many of these people turn to lower-cost medications, alternative therapies, buy the drugs from other countries, or simply don’t take the drugs at all. It is clear that dramatic increases in drug prices have massive implications on the health of millions of people.

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company

What started as a simple cold email in US entrepreneur Mark Cuban’s inbox is now a social disruptor challenging the entire pharmaceutical industry.

Partly motivated by the outrageous scandal surrounding “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company MCCPDC is a US-based digital pharmacy that was launched in January 2022. The company aims to be “radically transparent” in its drug prices and offers low-cost versions of 100 of the most commonly prescribed generic drugs. These top 100 generic drugs make up about half of all generic prescription drugs sold. In the words of their website, the company has “cut out the pharmacy middlemen and negotiate directly with manufacturers to get the best possible price”.

“We started Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company because every American should have access to safe, affordable medicines.” - Mark Cuban

Alex Oshmyansky, the founder and CEO of the (MCCPDC), is a practicing physician who pitched the idea to Mark Cuban a few years ago. Mark Cuban, the namesake and a key investor of the digital pharmacy, is an American billionaire entrepreneur, owner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Dallas Mavericks, and a television personality starring as one of the main ‘shark’ investors on the American series Shark Tank, the US equivalent to Dragon’s Den. Working together, Alex and Mark are taking the pharmaceutical industry by storm. With plans to build their own 22,000 square foot drug manufacturing facility in Dallas, Texas, the potential to lower costs further and create even more affordable generic drugs could have incredible implications on public health in the USA.

So how does the online pharmacy work? US-based patients with a medical prescription can order their medications online via their website. The MCCPDC prices drugs transparently at 15% above their manufacturing costs, the price needed to enable the company to keep running. Each order charges a further $3 to pay the pharmacists the company works with and $5 for shipping. Although customers pay out-of-pocket for their medications, the prices still typically work out to be less than insurance plans.

The bottom line

In early 2022, Martin Shkreli was fined $64.6 and barred from the pharmaceutical industry for life. The State of California is working to establish its own generic drug label to lower costs of medications. President of the United States Joseph Biden announced plans to tackle the outrageous prescription medication costs through his Build Back Better Bill.

The bottom line is that extortionate drug prices and the greed of the pharmaceutical industry are costing millions of dollars and - more importantly - millions of lives every year. The MCCPDC, alongside all the other urgent federal actions being taken to combat increasing drug costs, will enable millions of people to access medications they would otherwise be unable to afford. While the journey won’t be easy, MCCPDC promises to “disrupt and disable big pharma.” I don’t know about you, but I am optimistic and hopeful for what this company will do.

Examples of some of the medications sold by the MCCPDC: