Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban in an interview with The Hill said he is hopeful the Trump administration will move to lower prescription drug prices.
Cuban has criticized President Trump in the past and campaigned last year with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, then the vice president.
But he’s hopeful the government under Trump will work to lower prices through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Health and Human Services Department (HHS).
“CEOs are signing deals that under-reimburse [independent] pharmacies,” Cuban said in an interview for The Hill’s Health Next Summit. “CMS, HHS, the government is approving Medicare Advantage plans where they under-reimburse those independent pharmacies. It’s horrific.”
“Hopefully all of this changes. And actually, you know, I have some high hopes for this administration to take action there,” he said.
The “Shark Tank” host is the co-founder of Cost Plus Drugs, a company that aims to lower the cost of prescription drugs by removing Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) from the process.
“The manufacturers want independent pharmacies to stay in business. There have been CEOs or at least one CEO of a major PBM company that said it’s not his job to keep them in business, he doesn’t care. I do care,” Cuban said.
“I want independent pharmacies to stay in business. I think as a country, we don’t want to see pharmacy deserts. We need them to stay in business. All those people, senior citizens that have been going to the same pharmacist for decades and that pharmacist knows them, they know their family, that’s important. That saves lives.”
Pharmacy benefit managers are middlemen that manage drug coverage for businesses throughout the country. PBMs and brand drug manufacturers negotiate discounts in the form of rebates, and the PBM then passes most of the rebates on to employers.
But critics claim PBMs don’t always find the best deals, and the savings are often a mirage. They argue PBMs are driving independent drugstores out of business by not paying them enough to cover their costs.
The PBM industry argues that PBMs save employers and patients billions on their drug costs. Drug companies and PBMs each blame the other for rising drug prices.
Cuban noted that he has not had any direct conversations with the administration.
“I’ve tried to have some conversations with the administration and HHS, and I’ve gotten some resistance to talking to me, but going through intermediaries, the feedback I’ve gotten is they realize this is the problem,” the businessman said.
Cuban added that he believes Republicans have been afraid to collaborate with him, particularly from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), but said he was in collaboration with staff from one senator last week.
“We exchanged ideas on how we can improve the market. And really, it just comes down to one thing, to save taxpayers and patients tens of billions of dollars, if not more,” Cuban said.
A full version of this interview will air at The Hill’s Health Next Summit on Wednesday, March 26. The event is sponsored by the Alliance for Aging Research and the National Pharmaceutical Council.
