DALLAS — Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs Company has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to import a drug used to treat syphilis amid a national shortage.
Dallas-based Cost Plus Drugs is coordinating with the FDA to temporarily import a form of penicillin made by Portugal-based Laboratorios Atral S.A., according to a letter on the FDA’s website.
The news comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that syphilis cases in the U.S. reached their highest levels since the 1950s in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. The CDC says 207,255 total syphilis cases were reported in the U.S. in 2022, representing an 80% increase since 2018 and continuing a decades-long upward trend.
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that can result in damage to the brain, nerves, eyes or heart.
Nearly every state reported having at least one congenital syphilis case, but some states are feeling the impact more than others. Texas, California, Arizona, Florida, and Louisiana represented 57% of all reported congenital syphilis cases in 2022, according to the CDC.
In response to the surging number of cases, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services established a federal task force.
The FDA announced a shortage of the penicillin G Benzathine in April of last year, forcing healthcare providers to treat some patients with an alternative medication. Penicillin G benzathine is the only treatment option for women infected or exposed during pregnancy.
Pfizer, the manufacturer of G benzathine (Bicillin L-A), says the shortage is expected to last at least through the end of the year.
The CDC reported last month that the supply of Pfizer’s drug is increasing, and said providers should consider using it for all appropriate patients if supply is sufficient, rather than reserving it for pregnant people, as it had previously advised.
The medication offered by Cost Plus Drugs will be available through them for $15 per dose, the company said on X, formerly Twitter.
“This is a drug babies born with syphilis need, but couldn’t get because it was in short supply or they couldn’t afford it,” Cuban wrote on X. “This is a drug that HIV patients couldn’t get or couldn’t afford. Now it’s available for half the cost!”
