Mark Cuban Says Trump’s Executive Order To Lower Medication Costs Has a ‘Real Shot’ — Here’s Why
Written by
T. Woods
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Jenna Klaverweiden
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Despite his longstanding criticisms of President Donald Trump — and his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president in 2016, 2020 and 2024, respectively — businessman, billionaire and former “Shark Tank” television personality Mark Cuban declared on X (formerly Twitter) that Trump’s recent executive order to lower medication costs “has a real shot.”
Here’s why Cuban says this executive order has a real shot, as well as his take on why prescription drug costs are so high.
The Executive Order Could Lower Costs
As reported by AP News, Trump’s recent executive order tasks Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower their medication prices in the next 30 days.
If the companies do not agree, the health department will then begin the slow process of laying out a new rule to tie medication prices the U.S. pays to what other countries around the world pay, per AP.
In an X post from May 11, Cuban remarked that the executive order has a shot against Big Pharma, which he said isn’t innocent in high drug costs. However, Cuban claimed that middlemen, namely pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), are a “big culprit” in high drug costs.
Cuban Said the Middlemen Are the Main Culprits
PBMs are, essentially, “the big middlemen,” as Cuban put it. Their purpose is to serve as the liaison between drug manufacturers, pharmacies and health insurance plans, and they are a central figure in the determination of drug costs.
That said, Cuban is far less charitable in his description of them, noting that PBMs “work so hard to distort pricing,” and he further stated that PBMs hide the real net price lists of what medications are actually worth.
He argued that forcing PBMs to disclose their actual pricing models could lead to “brand meds cheaper than many countries.” As Cuban explained in another X post, the executive order could have a huge impact if it’s “built around transparency and removing the middlemen.”
The executive order focuses on drug manufacturers, but a White House fact sheet about the executive order does make note of “bypassing middlemen” to lower drug costs.
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Sources
- Mark Cuban, X post
- AP News, “Trump signs executive order setting 30-day deadline for drugmakers to lower prescription drug costs.”
- Mark Cuban, X post
- The White House, “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Announces Actions to Put American Patients First by Lowering Drug Prices and Stopping Foreign Free-riding on American Pharmaceutical Innovation.”
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