It took three interviews with Dr. Alex Oshymasky until he mentioned, offhandedly, that he started college when he was 13. I had asked him about his background and knew a bit about his professional life before he became CEO of the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, but this little biographical nugget sidetracked the entire interview and fundamentally changed how I viewed his story.
I was interviewing a literal genius. He earned a PhD in mathematics and completed medical school and a radiology residency. He also started multiple companies before trying to take on one of the most ingrained and wealthy industries in the country: pharmaceuticals. (He was also named prom king when he was in high school and went to law school for a year, just for fun.)
Oshmyansky has an unassuming charm that balances his intellect well. The combination makes him seem both slightly out of place and a master of his domain at the same time. One sweltering hot day this summer, he gave me a tour of the Deep Ellum facility that will fill and finish drugs that are not profitable for most pharmaceutical companies to produce.
In our vests and hard hats, he walked me through the active construction site. While his body language and demeanor didn’t exude the confidence of someone who has been around too many construction sites, he was able to walk me through the most minute details of the construction of the building, from the ventilation systems to the foundation.
Such is the juxtaposition of Dr. Alex Oshmyasnky, who Mark Cuban called one of the smartest people he has ever met. He earned Cubans trust, and the two are partnering to provide an alternative to the broken pharmaceutical industry and deliver savings to patients along the way. Get to know him and his company in this D Magazine profile from the October issue, which is online today.
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