Mark Cuban’s company won’t fix drug costs, but it can still help rectify America’s drug shortages By Ezekiel J. Emanuel and John ConnollyJuly 29, 2024

https://www.statnews.com/2024/07/29/mark-cuban-cost-plus-drug-company-bigger-impact-drug-shortages-not-drug-costs/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--7jnG7vq82-q5MihjBiDKyabWzrVELBNIxyBm3nPiQgqXd9Dkpy2dx0UzcRv06aF_yvhqIw5gLHGzwK0rY6SPUThAV_w&_hsmi=317667934&utm_content=317667934&utm_source=hs_email We’ve got two big problems with prescription drugs right now: They’re too expensive, and there aren’t enough of the most important ones. Mark Cuban — the billionaire entrepreneur perhaps best known for his assertive presence on the TV show “Shark Tank” — has decided to solve these problems for us through the creation of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. (That’s MCCPDC for short, if that name isn’t rolling off your tongue.) Cuban claims that the pharmaceutical industry is “the easiest industry I’ve been in to disrupt.” But in a First Opinion essay, industry vet Ezekiel Emanuel and physician John Connolly argue that perhaps Cuban shouldn’t be so confident. His current approach will fail to make a significant dent in drug prices, they write. But by expanding his production forays, they argue, Cuban could make real progress addressing America’s drug shortage issues. Read more from Emanuel and Connolly about why Cuban’s company can’t save us from high drug prices.