Mark Cuban’s online pharmacy promising affordable prices on prescription drugs is up and running.

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company cuts out the middleman and negotiates directly with drug manufacturers and pharmacies to obtain discounts and rebates on behalf of employers, health insurers and government health programs.

It says it offers the lowest direct-to-consumer prices on more than 100 medications, including those commonly prescribed for high cholesterol and blood pressure.

The cholesterol drug Atorvastatin typically costs more than $55, according to the Cuba-backed company’s website. Cost Plus charges $3.60. Prescription amlodipine for high blood pressure usually costs around $50. Cost Plus lists it at $3.30.

“The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company is trying to reduce drug costs for patients by any means necessary,” said CEO Alex Oshmyansky. “In our online pharmacy, we basically found a category of drugs that are extremely expensive, not really because of the manufacturer’s price, but because of price markups due to intermediaries in the supply chain, mainly pharmaceutical wholesalers. and pharmacy benefits managers.”

The company established its own registered pharmaceutical wholesaler and purchased drugs directly from manufacturers. He then sells the drugs at a fixed markup of 15% and a pharmacist fee of $3.

The pharmacy is cash only at the moment. By next year, Oshmyansky said the company hopes to allow customers to use their insurance.

Wednesday’s launch comes just weeks after the creation of Cuba’s Pharmacy Benefits Management Operation, which works directly with the online pharmacy. Customers can go to the website and order generic versions of the drugs to be shipped to their front door.

Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs was first launched under a different name in 2018 as a generic drug startup. A year ago, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks went public with his support.

The company is currently building an $11 million, 22,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Deep Ellum.

Oshmyansky said thousands of people had created accounts when the website launched on Wednesday.

“Our goal is not just to get attention today, but to try to help people every day, so hopefully we can keep the excitement going,” Oshmyansky said.