Parasitic middlemen and others in the healthcare industry are gouging patients who can’t afford live-saving medications.

Dr. Alex Oshmyansky of Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Company teaches us who they are (oh yes, we name names) and how we can fight back to make meds affordable again. A must-watch for patients and caregivers struggling with the high cost of prescription drugs. Here’s our prior interview with Alex from 2021.

Dr. Alex Oshmyansky is the Founder and CEO of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder at the age of 18 with a BA in Biochemistry. He went on to earn an MD at the Duke University School of Medicine and a PhD at Oxford University in Mathematics as a Marshall Scholar. Alex completed a surgical internship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School. He went on to a residency in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship in pediatric radiology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Alex then served as an adjunct faculty member at the Stanford University School of Medicine and continues to practice as an emergency radiologist.

Topics & Timecodes

00:00 Intro

2:08 About Alex, the inspiration for Cost Plus Drugs

9:34 Why drugs cost so much, price gouging, parasitic middlemen (PBMs)

18:23 Who ultimately suffers?

25:29 Breaking the system, price transparency, the problem with “discounts”

31:18 Financing this model, negotiating directly with drug manufacturers, Mark Cuban, simple pricing

38:55 How providers can prescribe using costplusdrugs.com

42:12 Employer incentives, the Health 3.0 vision, building a new (less corrupt) system

51:06 Primary care, concierge care, importance of preventative care

1:07:03 Med expiration dates, working with Mark Cuban

1:11:52 Finding a sense of purpose (both personally & within your team), founder stress & burnout

1:20:30 Final thoughts