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Shark Tank investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban recently shared his insights on the lack of transparency in the pharmaceutical industry during an interview with WFAA on April 10, 2025. When asked about his involvement with the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company and its mission, Cuban responded candidly about the significant flaws he observed in the industry. He said:
"I'm like well that just tells me this industry is messed up. And as I dug in more it became very apparent that one of the issues was there was zero transparency."
The Shark Tank investor underlined a critical issue: the inability of consumers to easily understand and access fair drug prices.
Shark Tank's Mark Cuban highlights transparency issues in the pharmaceutical industry
Cuban's motivation for launching Cost Plus Drugs
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Mark Cuban's interest in the pharmaceutical industry began when Dr. Alex Oshmyansky reached out to him with a proposal to create a pharmacy that could manufacture generic injectable drugs that were in short supply. Cuban found the idea of providing vital medications, particularly for pediatric cancer patients, compelling. He noted:
“I said you know what that’s admirable and we can do that but that’s not thinking big enough.”
This prompted Cuban to create the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company to tackle bigger issues in the pharma space. Cuban's curiosity became deeper following an observation of the conduct of people like former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli. The conduct of increasing drug prices, especially Daraprim's, by Shkreli captured the attention of Cuban. He asked:
"How can this dude just buy up or how can this dude just raise the price of this drug... to something unreasonable?"
Addressing the pricing problem with transparency
A primary concern that Cuban identified within the pharmaceutical industry was the lack of clarity around drug pricing. Through the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, he developed a platform where consumers could easily see the cost of their medications. The Shark Tank investor explained:
“You go to costplusdrugs.com... we'll show you your cost on markup.”
One of the significant issues Mark highlighted was the practice of reclassifying generic drugs as "specialty drugs," which allowed pharmaceutical companies to justify higher prices. He noted that, for example, Matnib, a drug used for leukemia treatment, could cost patients as much as $2,000 at traditional pharmacies. Mark emphasized,
“If you just walked into some of the bigger... pharmacy chains, cost you $2,000.”
The impact of pharmacy benefit managers on drug pricing
According to Cuban, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which play a key role in the pricing structure of medications, often inflate prices in ways that benefit their bottom line. He explained how PBMs, in partnership with insurance companies, contributed to the rising costs of essential drugs. Cuban remarked:
“The biggest pharmacy benefit managers created this scam where they call basic generic drugs specialty drugs... And because of that they took the license to price these things at astronomical levels.”
The Shark Tank investor also shared an example of a friend who needed a medication called Droxidopa but could not afford the $10,000 cost quoted by a local pharmacy. Cuban was able to find the same drug for just $63 per month through Cost Plus Drugs.
"Let me check to see if we can get it $63 a month," he recalled saying to his friend.
Transforming the pharmaceutical purchasing process
According to the businessman, his company's goal is to change how consumers purchase medications by providing more transparency. Cuban noted that patients who receive prescriptions from doctors are not typically informed about the cost. Instead, doctors simply ask which pharmacy the patient uses. Mark stated:
"When you get a prescription from your doctor... the next thing they ask you is not 'can you afford it.' It's what pharmacy do you use."
The Shark Tank investor explained that by offering a platform where drug prices are visible and straightforward, Cost Plus Drugs aims to empower consumers to make more informed decisions.
Shark Tank's new episodes air Fridays at 8 PM ET on ABC and can be streamed on Hulu.
