Healthcare Stocks In Focus As Mark Cuban Aims To Tackle High Drug Prices
Famous Entrepreneur Mark Cuban Launches Online Pharmacy
Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (MCCPDC) has recently announced that it has officially launched an online pharmacy. The goal of the company is to protect consumers against inflated drug prices.
In its press release, MCCPDC offers exciting data on drug prices. According to MCCPDC, the retail price of Imatinib, which is used for leukemia treatment, is $9,657 per month. The lowest price with the common voucher is $120 per month, while MCCPDC price is expected to be $47 per month.
MCCPDC will use a direct-to-consumer model which reaches savings by cutting out the middlemen. The company states that the pharmacy’s prices will “reflect actual manufacturer prices plus a flat 15% margin and pharmacist fee”.
MCCPDC expects that consumers will be able to purchase “medications at prices often less than what most insurance plans’ deductible and copay requirements would total”.
Will MCCPDC Have An Impact On Healthcare Stocks?
SPDR Health Care Select Sector and other similar ETFs have been lower in recent weeks, but it has nothing to do with the launch of the online pharmacy with low prices. The broad market pulled back, and so did healthcare stocks.
High drug prices have been in the spotlight for many years now, but healthcare stocks did mostly well.
At this point, it does not look that the new online pharmacy could immediately disrupt the business of established companies as consumers will have to pay out of pocket for medication. It would be a great option for many, but it cannot kill the insurance business or the companies that produce drugs whose prices are reliant on insurance coverage.
Most likely, there will be no immediate impact on healthcare stocks, but investors must watch this story closely, as a margins cut through competition is a key risk for healthcare businesses.
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This article was originally posted on FX Empire
