Newsweek magazine named Alex Oshmyansky and Mark Cuban as “Great Disruptors” of the healthcare industry for the company’s work revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry. The two founded the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., which aims to provide transparent pricing and help bring drugs to market that aren’t profitable for major pharmaceutical companies.
The magazine said the disruptors carry the “spirit of medical inquiry into the current age” and noted the company’s industry disruption. With around one in three Americans skipping medications because of cost, Oshmyansky was moved to find a solution. D Magazine profiled the practicing radiologist and his incredible career (including his academic progression as a literal child prodigy) last year. After several fast starts and other entrepreneurial endeavors, Oshmyasnky sent a cold email to Dallas Mavericks owner and “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban, who responded, and the two began to build a business.
The company works directly with drug manufacturers to deliver medications directly to consumers, cutting out intermediaries like inefficient and opaque pharmacy benefit managers. The result is selling medicines at a fraction of the cost. Newsweek highlighted the cholesterol medication Rosuvastatin, which sells for $5.10 on the company’s site and more than $110 at other pharmacies.
The company offers more than 1,200 on its online pharmacy, and the response has been robust. 1.3 million people created accounts in the company’s first 10 months, and sales topped $25 million in the first nine months. The company puts its pricing formula on the website, selling the drugs at cost plus a 15 percent markup for operating expenses and $8 for pharmacy and shipping fees.
More recently, the company has started working with insurance companies and employers by working with a transparent manager to allow companies to subsidize their employees’ pharmacy costs by working with Cost Plus. The company also has a pharmaceutical finish and fill facility in Deep Ellum that manufactures medications that are not profitable or in short supply.
Newsweek reports that next month, the company will sell its first biosimilar drug, Yusimry, an alternative to Humira, one of the bestselling medications of all time that treats several immune disorders. It will offer the medicine for $559.27, less than a tenth of the cost of Humira. Upon the announcement, Cuban tweeted: “The game has just changed.”
Newsweek’s list included everything from Magic Mushrooms and $1 Hearing Aids to improving women’s health. See all the below:
- Jeeshan Chowdhury, Founder and CEO, Journey Colab
- Narjust Florez, Thoracic Oncologist, Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center; Founder, Florez Lab
- Kate Ryder, Founder and CEO, Maven
- Alex Oshmyansky & Mark Cuban, Co-founders, Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.
- Polina Lishko, Professor of Cell Biology and Physiology, Washington University, St. Louis
- Saad Bhamla, Assistant Professor, Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Anna Lee, Co-Founder/Head of Engineering, Lioness
- Eddie Chang, Neurosurgeon, University of California San Francisco
- Mary Lou, Jepsen Founder, Openwater
You can read about the Medical Marvels here.
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