Mark Cuban’s War on Drug Prices: “How Much Damn Money Do I Need?”

As Mark Cuban If you feel spicy, he will always let you know. The billionaire businessman, basketball owner and Shark tank empresario highlighted WIRED’s “The Big Interview” event on Tuesday, publishing hot commentary about Elon Musk, the pharmaceutical industry and why he believes “couch fucking” and Gary Gensler’s crypto policies cost Kamala Harris the election.

Speaking to WIRED senior writer Lauren Goode, Cuban pointed to the development of Cost Plus Drugs, the pharmaceutical company he co-founded in 2022. By providing transparency on costs and pricing policies, Cuban said his company has managed to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry, offering consumers drugs such as droxidopa for about $20 a month, compared to the more than $3,000 a month it costs were offered to uninsured patients.

“We lowered the price of (one of our 2,500 drugs) every single day of the week for 18 months,” Cuban boasted, saying the company also had great success publishing its entire price list, something that has always been incredibly difficult to obtain be other drug providers for consumers and researchers alike.

Now, Cuban says, studies have come out showing that the government would save billions of dollars if, for example, Medicare purchased nine specific drugs from Cost Plus Drugs instead of their other sources, showing not only the bloat of the health care system but also the noticeable one Impact that a well-financed company can have.

It’s also not that Cuban doesn’t make money from Cost Plus Drugs, because he is. He could do it morehe said to Goode, but as he put it, “How much damn money do I need?” I’m not trying to land on Mars.”

The crack, presumably directed at Elon Musk, was just one of several comments Cuban made about the billionaire X owner. For one thing, he talked about his own move from

Because of Bluesky’s ability to block trolls and what Cuban calls “more engagement-friendly” policies, he finds it much easier to get involved there, be it on Kamala Harris, cryptocurrency or the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, which he is a part of has a minority stake. “If you want to know what Elon thinks, Twitter is great,” Cuban joked, but added that he considers Bluesky to be more of a real “social network” in comparison.

Mark Cuban and Lauren Goode at the Big InterviewPhoto: Tristan deBrauwere