Senators are asking the same question and last November asked the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate price-fixing practices by specialty pharmacies for generic drugs. “I like to think we played some role in promoting the narrative that everyone benefits from transparency,” says Oshmyansky, founder and CEO of Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co.
Buoyed by the millions who now rely on Cost Plus to fill their prescriptions, the company in March began manufacturing its own generic drugs at a facility in Dallas. Their initial outrage is now gaining institutional momentum as drug manufacturers become increasingly frustrated with taking all the blame for runaway drug prices. “If there is an opaque market, then the winners are not the buyers or the sellers, but the people who broker the intermediary information, and that is what we see happening often with drug prices,” he says. “There is a tipping point in the amount of frustration in the industry, both on the part of buyers [patients] and sellers [drugmakers]. And we hope to see more pharmaceutical companies stand up and tell intermediaries that you need us more than we need you – which ultimately benefits patients.”