Imatinib, a leukemia medication with a retail price of more than $2,500, is just $14.40 at Cost Plus Drugs.
But experts say that Cost Plus Drugs' impact is limited, at least for now, because it hasn't broken into the market driving those exorbitant prices: brand-name drugs.
Instead of negotiating prices through those pharmacy benefit managers, Cost Plus Drugs directly negotiates with manufacturers to get generic drugs at wholesale prices.
The trade-off: Cost Plus Drugs doesn't accept insurance claims, since insurers don't typically work with pharmacies that avoid pharmacy benefit managers.
That gives drugmakers little-to-no incentive to offer rebates to Cost Plus Drugs, Hernandez notes.