Side A · Liner notes
STAT+: Mark Cuban wants to crack open the market for rare disease treatments
Mental Health · Words by Jason Mast · Released
Mark Cuban's Cost Plus Drugs says it can reduce manufacturing costs for custom rare disease drugs and n-of-1 gene therapies.
Billionaire Mark Cuban has spent the last five years trying to make generic drugs like chemotherapy and antifungal ointment cheaper for Americans. But earlier this year, a very different type of medicine began arriving at his Dallas factory.
One shipment contained DNA-like molecules crafted by California chemists to patch the rare genetic mutation destroying a single patient’s neurons. Another carried DNA-like molecules developed with Dutch researchers to stop a rare disease that causes adults to progressively lose control of their muscles.
They are the first test of Cuban’s newest vision for his company Cost Plus Drugs: shake up the business of custom-made rare disease medicines. “It was an obvious chance for us to help those in that unfortunate situation,” he wrote in an email.
