Billionaire enterprise capitalist Mark Cuban has not shied away from blasting President Donald Trump’s coverage selections, however he mentioned Trump’s newest transfer simply may work.
The president introduced on Tuesday plans to launch TrumpRx.gov, a federal government-operated web site to promote pharmaceuticals on to shoppers at discounted charges. Cuban based Price Plus Medication, the same DTC platform, in 2022 with the objective of disrupting the healthcare business. The net market sells tons of of discounted generic medicine by circumventing third-party pharmacy profit managers (PBMs) that handle prescription-drug advantages on behalf of employers and insurance coverage corporations. These PMBs then negotiate rebates with drug producers, however usually maintain the money generated from these rebates.
The Trump administration is partnering with Pfizer to promote the corporate’s medicine at direct-to-consumer (DTC) price value a mean of fifty% in financial savings, in response to the pharma large. Different drugmakers will be part of this system, in response to Trump. The web site will go reside in early 2026.
The partnership with the White Home will permit Pfizer a three-year reprieve from Trump’s pharmaceutical tariffs, anticipated to enter impact on Wednesday, nevertheless it additionally marks a step ahead within the president’s “most-favored-nation” pricing strategy to prescription drugs. Trump signed an government order in Might with the objective of aligning the worth of U.S. medicine with these in different international locations.
Individuals pay considerably extra for pharmaceuticals than sufferers in different international locations. As of 2022, drug costs for each generic and model medicine have been 2.78 occasions larger than different OECD international locations, in response to authorities information.
Cuban’s tackle TrumpRx
Cuban gave the TrumpRx platform a grade of a “B,” he mentioned on social media Tuesday, giving the Trump administration credit score for bringing on “great people” for the venture, akin to Chris Klomp, the director of medicare and deputy administrator of Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies throughout the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
The enterprise capitalist mentioned the platform would have earned an “A,” however inventory costs of PBMs, akin to OptumRx’s mother or father firm UnitedHealth Group, ticked up following the announcement, indicating companies don’t imagine the brand new platform will make a lot of a distinction presently, Cuban mentioned. Trump’s platform nonetheless has the alternatives to make waves, in response to the investor.
“It’s still rigged to benefit the big PBMs,” Cuban mentioned on X. “That said. It has a chance if they force PBMs to change. If that happens, Trump gets all the credit and it will be deserved.”
Cuban informed Fortune PBMs “game the system” by inflicting the worth of manufacturers to be based mostly on rebates. A New York Occasions investigation in 2024 discovered that whereas PBMs have the power to decrease shopper drug prices by negotiating with drug corporations what shoppers are capable of pay by means of insurance coverage, many as a substitute pointed sufferers towards costlier medicine and made billions of {dollars} by creating subsidiaries to gather charges from drug producers.
“So until these fundamental issues change, it’s going to be difficult to truly impact pricing for all patients,” Cuban mentioned.
Nonetheless, public-health specialists are skeptical of DTC drug platforms making a huge impact on making healthcare extra reasonably priced, notably as TrumpRx proper now applies solely to Pfizer, Drew Altman, president and CEO of nonpartisan well being coverage analysis group KFF, informed NBC. Since DTC platforms reduce out PBMs, they change into de facto cash-only pharmacies that may’t settle for insurance coverage, limiting who can profit from the financial savings.
“Most Americans buy drugs through their insurance plan, so that would mainly help the uninsured,” Altman mentioned.
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