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Does Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drug Company offer better savings than GoodRx for dermatology medications?

by Haroon Ahmad, MD 2025-05-31 00:00
PhysicianPractice Innovation

🔍 Key Finding

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company (CostPlus) offers significantly greater cost savings for dermatology medications compared to GoodRx, even when accounting for shipping fees.

🔬 Methodology Overview

  • Design: Observational cost-analysis comparing medication prices

  • Data collection: Prices extracted on November 26, 2023

  • Medications: 15 commonly prescribed dermatology medications selected from Dobkin and Zirwas study

  • Comparison points: CostPlus prices (with and without shipping) vs. GoodRx prices from New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago

  • Analysis: Wilcoxon signed rank exact tests using RStudio V1.4.1106

📊 Evidence

  • Average medication cost: $17 (SE $3.22) through CostPlus vs. $31.21 (SE $6.42) through GoodRx (P<.001)

  • CostPlus with $2.60 shipping: $19.60 (SE $3.22) - still significantly lower than GoodRx (P<.001)

  • CostPlus with $5 shipping: $22 (SE $3.22) - still significantly lower than GoodRx (P=.007)

  • Average retail cost of medications: $147.23 (SE $36.54)

  • CostPlus average savings: $130.23 (SE $33.78) or 81% off retail

  • GoodRx average savings: $116.01 (SE $30.73) or 70% off retail

💡 Clinical Impact

CostPlus offers a viable tool to reduce prescription medication burden within dermatology, especially for uninsured patients or those with high-deductible health plans, while also providing the convenience of shipping all prescriptions directly to patients.

🤔 Limitations

  • Observational design with drug prices measured at only a single time point

  • Did not fully assess the impact of ordering multiple medications at once

  • Did not assess prices from compounding pharmacies, which often offer discounted prices

  • Limited generalizability as CostPlus is the first of its kind in the United States

  • Certain common dermatology medications (tretinoin, calcipotriene) are not available on CostPlus

Consider recommending CostPlus to patients struggling with medication costs, particularly those who are uninsured or face transportation barriers, as it offers both greater savings and the convenience of direct shipping compared to using multiple pharmacies with GoodRx.

Youn CG, Kim JY, Yang VB, Bae GH. Improving Affordability in Dermatology: Cost Savings in Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company Versus GoodRx. JMIR Dermatol 2024;7

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