https://mailchi.mp/3390763e65bb/the-weekly-gist-june-24-2022?e=d1e747d2d8

 An analysis published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that if Medicare had purchased 77 common generic drugs from Mark Cuban’s Cost-Plus Pharmacy in 2020, it would have saved $3.6B dollars. That translates to more than a third of the $9.6B Medicare spent on generic drugs that year. 

In January, Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Cuban launched the generic drug company as a transparency play, cutting out pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), negotiating directly with manufacturers, and selling drugs at a flat 15 percent markup.

The Gist: This isn’t the first study to find that Medicare overpays for generic drugs, as it’s unable to negotiate drug prices under current law. Another recent analysis found that Costco can offer consumers lower prices than Medicare drug plans for half of the most common generic drugs.

The fact that both Costco’s and Cuban’s pharmacies, neither of which accepts health insurance, can offer consumers cheaper generics is another indication of how PBMs’ perverse incentives and opaque pricing and rebate models lead to consumers being steered to higher priced drugs. We’re hopeful that the FTC’s new investigation into PBMs will shed light on their pricing practices, and create a path for lawmakers to finally address unsustainably high prescription drug prices.