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If fewer companies jump in, perhaps because the medication treats a rare condition, then even the generic version might still be expensive. And while Americans pay 84 percent more for generic drugs than other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries like Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the United Kingdom, generics are not what’s breaking people’s budgets. The culprit is patent-protected, name-brand medications. The good news is that four out of five medications prescribed in America are generic.
In practice, the noninterference clause means that the U.S. The problem is that PBMs are driven by profit. Instead that negotiating power is handed over to private businesses called pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs. Medicare, can’t use its collective purchasing power to negotiate lower prices. They are supposed to negotiate lower prices for health insurance companies, large employers and even Medicare recipients, but they make money by pocketing a percentage of the cost of the drugs.
When a drug company spots a promising (i.e., profitable) innovation, they buy the patent for a bargain and make it their own. According to an analysis by West Health, name-brand drug companies could lose $1 trillion in sales and still be the most profitable industry in America. The next step, says Cuban, is to build its own drug manufacturing facility in Dallas. Beyond that, there’s the question of fair compensation. Yes, drug companies should be allowed to make money from delivering a life-saving cure, vaccine or treatment, but how much money? While Cuban’s online pharmacy might not solve the prescription drug problem on its own, it’s looking for ways to expand.
And 7 percent of adult Americans – an estimated 18 million people – reported they can no longer afford to pay for one or more of their prescriptions in a September 2021 West Health and Gallup survey. But while the Texas billionaire should be applauded for trying to make life-saving drugs more affordable, a single startup isn’t going to solve America’s prescription drug price crisis, say health care industry reformers.
Billionaire business owner Mark Cuban is on a mission to “disrupt” the pharmaceutical industry and sell low-cost prescription drugs directly to Americans. Some of the potential savings are staggering. A generic leukemia drug called Imatinib currently retails for $2,502 for 30 100 mg tablets. His startup venture, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, is offering steeply discounted prices on hundreds of generic prescription drugs. Cuban’s company is selling the exact same medication for just $17.10.
