Mark Cuban is known and loved for many things, and this week he’s adding “cheap drugs” to the list.
Cuban just launched an online pharmacy that promises cheaper drugs by cutting out industry middlemen and charging manufacturer prices, plus a flat 15% markup and pharmacist fee.
Let’s get one thing out of the way — yes, this is so American. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that around 3 in 10 Americans say they haven’t taken their medications as prescribed due to concerns about cost. To our global community: You might not benefit from much from the Mark Cuban CostPlus Drug Company (MCCPDC), but you can still join the conversation.
“Amazed that this wasn't already done in the US. It's going to be a lifesaver.” Rohit Agarwal
“It is incredibly sad for Americans that this is even remotely necessary and I'm very glad it's available.” Rob Baker
MCCPDC currently offers 100 generic drugs to treat illnesses like diabetes, asthma, and heart conditions. As an example of savings, Imatinib, a drug used to treat leukemia, retails at other pharmacies for $9,657.40/month or $120/month with a voucher. On MCCPDC it's $47/month.
The company’s approach is different because it's working as both a retailer and a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM). PBMs act as intermediaries that manage drugs on behalf of Medicare drug plans and private insurers. They’re consistently identified as contributors to high drug prices in the U.S. MCCPDC explained: “Because the company refuses to pay spread prices to third-party PBMs in order to be allowed to process insurance claims, the online pharmacy will be a cash pay venture.” I.e. You can only pay out of pocket for now, but MCCPDC says it will still cost you less than what most insurance plans' deductible and copay requirements would total.
MCCPDC will put pressure on other digital pharmacies, including Amazon Pharamacy which just launched a year ago.
"Not everyone sets the goal of being the lowest cost producer and provider," Cuban told Axios. "My goal is to make a profit while maximizing impact."
Here’s something to fill that void del.icio.us left behind many years ago.
“If you're a bit like me, you probably have 20+ tabs open before you finished your first coffee in the morning. And how do you know what browser tab to click? That's right, the favicon.”
Superdense allows you to organize your bookmarks into categories, share them with others, and access them across all of your devices. Instead of previews and embeds, Superdense only shows the icon of the website.
AI builders: There's a new security standard in town and you'll need to find out what it is, if you need it, and how it works.
ISO 42001 was introduced by the International Standards Organization so that companies can demonstrate their security practices around AI in a verifiable way.Join Vanta and A-LIGN in a live webinar to learn about...
🚀 Introducing Prologue: the holding company bringing together Product Hunt and early-stage venture firm, Hyper. Today, Prologue announces it has raised $23M from a16z and Sequoia Capital to help bring the culture and community of Silicon Valley to founders everywhere.
🙋 Today, Ankur Nagpal, founder of Teachable is hosting an AMA on starting a company, fundraising, starting a fund, and/or everything about founder mindset. Ask him your questions here.
👨🔬 Simulate realistic lab experiments from your phone with Unreal Chemist. Zero hazards.
📜 doola DAOs helps founders incorporate their DAO LLCs as a US company from anywhere in the world.