Mark Cuban Cuts Down Company’s Drugs Costs To As Much As 90 Percent To Help People

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Mark Cuban may be the people’s new hero. After all, getting sick is never easy. Medicines cost a lot, and with today’s environment, people may need to cut down on spending, whether on a necessity or a luxury. The pandemic has closed down economies while people are losing jobs as well. No longer can they afford to go on a spending spree.

Still, people out there are getting sick, and not just from the coronavirus. How can they gain access on affordable drugs? This is a big help, especially when drugs from the US are a lot more expensive when compared to other countries. Americans have been complaining about it, and Mark Cuban realized that this was the time to give them what they most need.

Dr. Alex Oshymansky initiated a public-benefit company that helps combat the highly ridiculous prices of certain prescription medicines. He wanted to reach a wider audience, but needed the funds. Now, his dream may become a reality as he had gained a new partner, Shark Tank billionaire and investor, Mark Cuban.


Dr. Oshymansky is a Texas radiologist who started the Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals in 2015. He needed a million dollars in investment capital and searched high and low for the perfect partner. It took him four years to finish his search and found Cuban. The company now operates under a new name cammed Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Co. and has now donated medicines to those who need it the most.

In the past years, the rising prices were attributed to the FDA demands of approval and the drug companies’ greed for cash Cuban was concerned with all the red tape and wanted to do something about the problem as well. Now, the company is under Cuban’s guidance and tutelage. The private-label arrangement he has with the doctor allows the medical expert to purchase drugs from third-party suppliers. Thus, they are able to take care of the labelling and branding laws without any mediator to go between the process. Hence, they can now sell these products at an impressive discount with a mere 15 percent markup for the expenses they’ve accrued.

The new methods they discovered allowed the partners to lower the cost of an anti-parasitic medication called albendazole. It was available in the market anywhere from $225 to $500. Now, they are now made available to the public at an inflated discount and a low price of a mere $20. The new rate has been especially prized for the Baylor College of Medicine. They needed around a thousand doses of albendazole to complete a study they had performed for those who suffered from hookworm infections in the south.

 

Curing Hookworm Across the South

Hookworm was called “The Germ of the south.” This catch-all term was characterized by lethargy and cloudiness in the mind. Sufferers also exhibited several symptoms such as distended bellies and emaciated shoulder blades. The disease was first discovered in the deep south during the 20th century. Up to this very day, there are still those who suffer from it as a result of poor sanitation and poverty. Children, in particular, were more susceptible to suffer from the sickness.

The medical experts performed a study in Lowndes County, Alabama, and observed 24 households. They found that 34 percent of the stool samples they’ve gathered contained the parasite, and with the help of albendazole, they were able to immediately halt the issue.

Both Cuban and Oshymansky donated the first 10,000 doses of the affordable medicines to Baylor. Dr. Rojelio Mejia, the author of the study, had said that volunteers from Alabama and New York purged the parasite from their systems when they tested positive from it.

There were other companies who looked into the study. At first, they estimated that with the same number of doses, the entrepreneurs would have had to shell out $2 million. This amount was extremely too high for the research to be conducted.

“We found it deeply troubling that albendazole is extremely expensive in the United States, and are happy to be able to manufacture it for free for this research and provide it at significantly decreased prices to the rest of the US market,” shared Dr. Oshymansky.

 

The Future of Free Market

At this point, the future looks bright for the free market. Cuban’s new company is targeting for 100 new drug products to offer by the end of 2021. The best part of it all is that these new medicines come with no hidden costs, zero middlemen, and zero rebates that were only available to insurance companies. Their goal is to be “radically transparent” about the prices in terms of formulation, production, and in how much phramacies will be charged to make it available to the public.


Right now, Cuban and Dr. Oshymansky are in the process of implementing a brick-and-mortar pharmacy in Dallas. It is also with hope that they can earn profit on other non-pharmaceutical products that can fund the formulations that cost less. They also want to offer drugs for people who suffer from rare diseased directly to patients and outpatient facilities.

While the new scenario seems ideal for patients and consumers, it could also mean a bigger problem for reputable and bigger drug companies. Over time, they might be forced to close their doors as they have been known to over-charge their clients by asking them to pay for horrendously high prices. On the flipside, this could also be a sobering dose for a country where millions of patients are clamoring for better and cheaper alternative medicines.

 

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