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.

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