Kentucky-based EmsanaRx Forge Partnership with Mark Cuban to Make Lower-Cost Medicines Available to Employers

The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC (Cost Plus Drugs) and EmsanaRx, PBC, the only pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) built by employers, for employers, today announced a collaboration with the launch of EmsanaRx Plus, a first-of-its-kind supplemental drug discount product designed specifically for employers as a standalone pipeline for lower-cost medicines that have been contracted directly with drug manufacturers by Cost Plus Drugs.

The EmsanaRx Plus supplemental drug discount product represents a transition for Cost Plus Drugs from operating exclusively in the direct-to-consumer market into the employer market, which provides health benefits for roughly half of all Americans. This new partnership is a response to a growing desire among employers and other health care purchasers to work with new market entrants whose interests are aligned with theirs and that of their employees, namely, to reduce wasteful spending and increase transparency, while maintaining access to high-quality care.

“Like Cost Plus Drugs, EmsanaRx is working to disrupt the current pharmacy supply chain to eliminate the unnecessary markup and profiteering that is burdening businesses and consumers with high drug costs,” said Mark Cuban. “By partnering with a company as committed to transparency as Cost Plus Drugs, and with the technological capabilities to customize to the needs of self-funded employers, we are able to bring lower cost medicines to a wider swath of the American public.”

The relationship with EmsanaRx enables Cost Plus Drugs to offer its low-cost medications to employers due to EmsanaRx’s unique ability to integrate with employer-sponsored drug benefits. This relationship offers added value to existing employer-based prescription benefit coverage. Currently, when employee members use prescription drug discount card options, employers lose access to critical information and employees spend money on medications that doesn’t apply to their health plan deductible or maximum out-of-pocket costs. EmsanaRx Plus will provide deep discounts on medications without employees having to go outside of their health plan benefits to realize those savings, ensuring greater continuity of care. EmsanaRx Plus advocates will assist both employers and employees interested in transferring their medications to a lower-cost option, and coordinate with providers on behalf of patients.

“Employers are increasingly recognizing that they’re being held hostage by a consolidated industry playing games that cost them more every year without adding value,” said Greg Baker, CEO of EmsanaRx. “In partnering with Cost Plus Drugs, we will help employers understand where high-cost drugs are a problem in their current benefit design and give them and their employees access to lower-cost alternatives.”

EmsanaRx was launched by the Purchaser Business Group on Health (PBGH) to tackle the challenges self-funded employers face in providing high-quality, cost-effective medications to millions of Americans and their families. Both EmsanaRx and Cost Plus Drugs are focused on transparency and fundamentally changing the PBM industry to better serve the American public.