Drug Pricing

Drug-pricing activity over the last 24 hours centered more on market-channel disruption than new CMS rulemaking: Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs and Humana’s CenterWell Pharmacy announced a partnership that could pressure PBM spread-pricing and rebate-dependent pharmacy economics, with implications for Medicare Advantage plan design, adherence strategies, and Part D total cost management. At the same time, specialty pharmacy and biosimilar coverage dynamics remain the key VBC flashpoint—high-cost specialty drugs are increasingly where ACOs, MA plans, and risk-bearing providers face affordability and adherence tradeoffs, while biosimilars are being repositioned less as a failed savings lever and more as a targeted tool for specific therapeutic categories and formulary strategies (specialty pharmacy shifts, [biosimilar market purpose](