Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company Examines New Approaches To Access Amid Pharmacy Deserts And Closure

In recent years, the cracks in the US pharmacy system have become impossible to ignore. Independent community pharmacies are closing at an alarming rate—by some estimates, 1 in 3 has shut its doors in just the past few years—leaving behind pharmacy deserts where patients struggle to access basic medications and care. At the same time, opaque pricing practices from large pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and middlemen have fueled frustration among patients, providers, and employers who are desperate for a more transparent, sustainable model.

Into this landscape stepped Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, a startup that has quickly become one of the loudest disruptors in the pharmacy and drug pricing space. The company began with a 503B sterile fill‑finish facility in Dallas, Texas, focused on compounding drugs on the FDA shortage list. From there, it expanded vertically, becoming a licensed wholesaler, launching a direct‑to‑consumer mail order site, CostPlusDrugs.com, and building out a marketplace where licensed facilities can purchase more than 4500 drugs at the company’s actual acquisition cost.

Now, Cost Plus Drugs is turning its attention squarely to the survival—and potential resurgence—of community pharmacies. Through its affiliate pharmacy network and the Team Cuban Card discount program, the company discusses ingredient costs for community pharmacies and fair dispensing fees for cold-chain, complex REMS drugs, and vaccines.

In this interview, Ashley Gallagher, MA, assistant managing editor of Drug Topics, speaks with Erin Albert, chief of pharmacy relations, network, and professional affairs at Cost Plus Drugs, about how this evolving model works, what it offers pharmacies, and whether it can meaningfully blunt the growth of pharmacy deserts while reshaping expectations around transparency in drug pricing.