Cost Plus Drugs review
Pharmacy only, bring a prescription
Mark Cuban's transparent-price online pharmacy, which sells generic liraglutide for weight loss at cost plus 15% with your own prescription. It has no semaglutide or tirzepatide.
Our verdict
Cost Plus Drugs isn't a weight-loss program; it's a pharmacy that shows you exactly how it sets each price. For GLP-1s, that means one weight-loss option: generic liraglutide, the FDA-approved generic version of Saxenda, at $716.50 for a box of five pens plus $55 for refrigerated next-day shipping. That's well under the $1,640 retail figure it quotes for other pharmacies, but it's a daily injection with less weight loss on average than weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide, and neither of those is sold here. You also need your own prescriber, because Cost Plus doesn't offer visits. For someone who already has a liraglutide prescription, or a doctor willing to write one, it's a credible, transparent way to buy the drug. For anyone looking for a complete GLP-1 program, it's only half the picture.
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At a glance
- Category
- Online pharmacy
- Access
- Drug only: generic liraglutide for weight management $716.50 per 5-pen box plus $55 refrigerated shipping; prescriber separate
- Medications
- Generic liraglutide (FDA-approved)
- Insurance
- Works with insurance
- Availability
- All 50 states and D.C.
- LegitScript
- Claimed by provider
Partner alternative
yourEra
A low-cost entry point into compounded GLP-1 treatment
Check yourEra availability →What it is
The company is Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, PBC, a public benefit corporation backed by investor Mark Cuban and led by its CEO, Dr. Alexander Oshmyansky. It sells hundreds of mostly generic medications online, and each product page breaks down the price: the manufacturer's cost, a 15% markup, a pharmacy labor fee and shipping. Prescriptions are filled and shipped by its fulfillment partner, HealthDyne, whose licensed pharmacists are available around the clock for questions. It ships to all 50 states, D.C., U.S. territories and military addresses. You don't need insurance to use it, but it is in network with a growing list of prescription plans, and many HSA and FSA cards work. It doesn't employ prescribers or run a telehealth service. The site displays a LegitScript seal.
How it works
There's no care model to speak of, which is the main thing to understand. You create an account, find the medication, and ask your own doctor or provider to send a new prescription to the pharmacy, using a cover letter and pharmacy ID the site supplies. Within about 24 hours of receiving it, Cost Plus matches the prescription to your account and emails you to check out. Orders take two to three business days to prepare, and liraglutide goes by refrigerated shipping, which arrives in one to two business days after that. Automatic refills are optional and require you to opt in. Dose changes, side-effect management and follow-up all stay with your own prescriber. Liraglutide is started at a low dose and stepped up weekly, so the early weeks need fewer pens; your prescriber sets the quantity, and Cost Plus fills whatever amount is prescribed. If you don't have one, you'll need a separate telehealth service or your regular doctor to prescribe, and that visit is a separate cost.
Pricing transparency
Generic liraglutide for weight management, the generic for Saxenda, is $716.50 for one box of five 18 mg/3 mL prefilled pens: $610 for the drug, a $91.50 markup and $15 for pharmacy labor. Next-day refrigerated shipping adds $55, and tax depends on where you live. At the full 3 mg daily dose, five pens last about a month. The site lists the retail price elsewhere at $1,640. Generic liraglutide for type 2 diabetes, the generic for Victoza, is $87.80 a pen, but it's approved for type 2 diabetes, not weight management, and is dosed for diabetes. Standard shipping on non-refrigerated orders starts at $5.25. If your plan is one of the insurers it works with, you can use insurance at checkout; otherwise you pay the listed cash price. Medication can't be returned, and approved refunds take 5 to 10 business days to appear. Remember to budget for the prescriber as well: Cost Plus doesn't charge for a visit because it doesn't offer one, so whatever your doctor or a telehealth service charges for the prescription and follow-ups comes on top of the pharmacy price. Over a year, refrigerated shipping alone adds about $660 if you order one box a month.
Branded vs compounded
Liraglutide is an FDA-approved, once-daily GLP-1 injection. The generic sold here for weight management is the same drug as Saxenda, and Cost Plus notes that the manufacturer of a generic can vary, so the pens may look different from one order to the next. In trials, liraglutide produced less weight loss on average than semaglutide or tirzepatide. A search for Ozempic, Wegovy, semaglutide, Mounjaro, Zepbound, tirzepatide and Foundayo found none of them in its catalog. It also lists generic exenatide, a diabetes drug. Nothing it sells is compounded. A search of the FDA warning-letter database under the company's name and site name found no letters addressed to it; the matches on its name were unrelated letters. The site displays a LegitScript seal.
Pros and watch-outs
What we like
- Shows the drug cost, markup and fees behind every price
- FDA-approved generic liraglutide well below the retail price it quotes
- Ships to all 50 states, D.C. and U.S. territories
- Accepts some insurance plans and many HSA or FSA cards
- Automatic refills are optional
Watch-outs
- You need your own prescriber; no visits are offered
- No semaglutide or tirzepatide
- Liraglutide is a daily injection with less average weight loss
- $55 refrigerated shipping on each order
- Medication can't be returned
Best for
People who already have, or can get, a liraglutide prescription and want a transparent cash price on the FDA-approved generic.
Who should look elsewhere
Anyone who needs a prescriber, ongoing weight-loss care, or a weekly semaglutide or tirzepatide injection.
The evidence behind what Cost Plus Drugs prescribes
We grade the molecules, not the marketing. Here is what the human data actually shows for each thing on their menu.
- Liraglutide (Saxenda, Victoza): the first-gen daily GLP-1, read from the trials
About 8% weight loss in SCALE, a real cardiovascular benefit in LEADER, and a daily needle — the honest baseline that weekly semaglutide and tirzepatide now eclipse.
- Semaglutide vs liraglutide: what the head-to-head trials actually show
Two Novo GLP-1 drugs — daily liraglutide and weekly semaglutide. STEP 8 and SUSTAIN 10 compared them directly; here is the honest read on potency, dosing and where each still fits.
How Cost Plus Drugs compares
A few alternatives worth a look, depending on what you’re optimizing for.
MadeMedGLP-1 paired with NAD⁺ and sermorelin under one account
See MadeMed →
ShedA wide range of GLP-1 formats (injection, drops, lozenges, microdose)
See Shed →
LillyDirectPeople who already have, or can get, a Zepbound or Foundayo prescription and want the manufacturer's self-pay price on authentic brand-name medicine
See LillyDirect →
More GLP-1 telehealth reviews: The Calibrate ClinicPCOS SistersPeak WellnessPollyWholesome ClinicZera Health
Access & cost
How we assessed this. This review reflects Aminoscope’s own read of Cost Plus Drugs’s publicly-stated model — pricing transparency, clinical oversight, medication clarity, and access — against our editorial methodology. We publish no fabricated ratings or first-hand outcomes. A partnership never changes the assessment — see how we make money.
Frequently asked
- Does Cost Plus Drugs sell Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound?
- No. Its catalog has no semaglutide or tirzepatide. For weight loss, it sells generic liraglutide, the generic version of Saxenda.
- How much is generic liraglutide at Cost Plus Drugs?
- $716.50 for a box of five pens, which lasts about a month at the full dose, plus $55 for next-day refrigerated shipping.
- Can Cost Plus Drugs prescribe it?
- No. You ask your own doctor or provider to send a prescription to its pharmacy. Cost Plus doesn't offer visits.
- Does Cost Plus Drugs take insurance?
- It works with a list of prescription plans and accepts many HSA and FSA cards. You don't need insurance; you can pay the listed cash price.
- Who fills the prescription?
- Its fulfillment partner, HealthDyne, whose licensed pharmacists dispense and ship the medication and answer questions around the clock.
- Is Cost Plus Drugs legit?
- Cost Plus Drugs is an online pharmacy service. The medications it names are Generic liraglutide (FDA-approved). Its stated availability: All 50 states and D.C. What it publishes up front: Drug only: generic liraglutide for weight management $716.50 per 5-pen box plus $55 refrigerated shipping; prescriber separate. It states it works with insurance. It shows a LegitScript seal. Ask the company for its certificate number before you rely on it. Before you pay, ask in writing about a single monthly price you can check before an intake and how its intake works.