In an interview with Christine Baeder, senior vice president and COO of Teva Pharmaceuticals, at the Association for Accessible Medicines’ annual meeting, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said he was first discounted as “just a Shark Tank guy,” but “now people are starting to realize we’re real.”
The company passed the 1 million patient benchmark in September.
Cost Plus Drug Co. operates with a 15 percent profit for each order, a $3 pharmacy dispensing fee and a $5 shipping fee. Ms. Baeder asked Mr. Cuban if this is a sustainable model.
“It really is. I mean, you’re not going to see us with telehealth,” he said. “You’re not going to see guest celebrity doctors doing podcasts. You’re not going to see advertising. We haven’t spent a nickel on advertising, and we won’t. When we first started going and we’re hiring people, they’re like, ‘OK, advertising, we need to have [it].’
“No, I mean, when my buddy went from thinking he’s going to spend $30,000 for droxidopa to $61, what do they do? They tell everybody. If you need Imatinib, you’re telling everybody. You’re telling your doctor, you’re on online forums, you’re speaking to everybody that has the same ailment that you have, and that’s our marketing.”
Here are five recent updates on the company:
1. Cost Plus Drug Co. teamed up with a diabetes management business.
2. The company’s manufacturing facility in Dallas has been delayed — the original opening date was late 2022 — but it celebrated a “topping out,” or when the last beam is placed on a structure, in early February.
3. It is looking to partner with independent pharmacists as soon as March 1.
4. Cost Plus Drug Co. has hinted at selling insulin and brand-name drugs. It currently offers hundreds of generics.
5. Here are the three pharmacy benefit managers Mr. Cuban has chosen as partners.
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