Team owner’s firm will make generics

Mark Cuban is getting involved in generic drugs.

The Dallas Mavericks owner has attached his name to a company that will produce low-cost versions of expensive generic drugs. The Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. pledges “to provide radical transparency” in how it prices its drugs.

The company will manufacture, distribute and market its drugs to pharmacies and add a flat 15 percent margin to get its wholesale prices.

The first drug to be produced is albendazole, an anti-parasitic pill that can retail for over $400 per tablet. The company plans to make and distribute the drug for about $13, charge $15 as a wholesale price and set a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $20 per tablet. The company is also donating 10,000 pills to researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine.

The new venture is hoping to introduce over 100 drugs by the end of this year and build a pharmaceutical factory in Dallas by next year.