Wal-Mart extends low-price medications program
Tags: drug, lowprice, program, walmart
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, announced Monday it would expand its discounted prescription drug program to offer 90-day supplies for $10 and add several women’s medications at a discount. It also said it would lower the price of more than 1,000 over-the-counter drugs.
The move marks the third phase of a company program that began in 2006 to provide a 30-day supply of generic prescription drugs for $4. Wal-Mart said the program has saved customers more than $1 billion.
With the expansion, the company began filling prescriptions Monday for up to 350 generic medications at $10 for a 90-day supply at Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sam’s Club pharmacies in the U.S. Almost all the prescription generics in the company’s $4 program were included in the expanded $10 offer, said Wal-Mart senior vice president John Agwunobi.
In addition, the company will add several women’s medications to its list of prescriptions available for $9, including drugs to treat breast cancer and hormone deficiency.
For instance, alendronate, the generic version of osteoporosis medication Fosamax, will be added to the list. Company pharmacies will fill 30-day prescriptions of alendronate for $9 and a 90-day supply for $24 at a comparison of $54 and $102, respectively, that women previously paid for the same amounts, the company said.
Tamoxifen, used to treat breast cancer, will be offered for $9 for a 30-day supply, as well as combination estrogen/methyltestosterone tablets, prescribed for menopause and hormone deficiency.
Wal-Mart also will lower the prices of more than 1,000 over-the-counter medications to $4 or less in its pharmacies, company officials said. Those price rollbacks represent about one-third of the retailer’s over-the-counter medicines. They include Wal-Mart’s Equate versions of popular drugs, including Zantac, Pepcid and Claritin, and Wal-Mart’s Spring Valley prenatal vitamins.
Since 2006, Wal-Mart’s $4 generic drug program has expanded to every state, except North Dakota, where Wal-Mart has no in-store pharmacies. And many company competitors have followed the retailer’s lead.
While stressing that the expansion was designed to help customers at a time of exorbitant health-care costs and difficult economic times, Agwunobi said the program has worked in everyone’s favor.
“This is the time for us now to begin building capacity,” he said. “It offers (customers’) employers potential savings. It offers the customers significant savings. It also offers us the ability to add capacity to our pharmacies without adding people.”
Agwunobi expects the 90-day discount will increase the company’s market share of mail-order and online prescriptions as customers realize the value of the company offer.
Wal-Mart Chief Operating Officer Bill Simon said the results in each phase of the program have been strong and prescription volume has increased, “exceeding our expectations.” He said the company would not, however, offer free generic drugs at its in-store clinics as some competitors have.
“We’re in business to make money,” Simon said. “Free is a price that is not a long-term sustainable proposition.”
Shares of Wal-Mart fell 31 cents to $57.18 in midday trading Monday.
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By Nicole Maestri
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc
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“With the state of the economy in flux and health care costs still on the rise, many families are struggling to afford their medications, to afford their access to health care,” said John Agwunobi, president of health and wellness for Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores, in the announcement of the expanded low-price drug program.
In 2006, Wal-Mart began selling some generic drugs for $4 per monthly prescription in Florida, but it quickly extended the program to all its U.S. pharmacies.
Last year, it added more medicines to the program and said in September that $4 prescriptions accounted for nearly 40 percent of all prescriptions filled in its Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Neighborhood Market pharmacies.
The world’s largest retailer said pharmacies at its U.S. discount stores, Neighborhood Markets and Sam’s Club warehouse locations will fill prescriptions for up to 350 generic medications, like diabetes drug metformin and asthma drug albuterol, for $10 for a 90-day supply.
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It also said its Wal-Mart Stores and Neighborhood Markets will sell more than 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less without a prescription — including Wal-Mart’s own Equate brand of Zantac, Pepcid and Claritin.
Deisha Galberth, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said Wal-Mart previously sold some of these items for $4 or below, but the number of over-the-counter items being offered at those prices has increased.
Wal-Mart has been working to expand its health and wellness services, which are seen as a way to drive shoppers into its stores more frequently and boost sales.
Other retailers have responded to Wal-Mart’s move to offer cheaper drugs. Target Corp
Last year, Publix Super Markets, a privately held U.S. grocer, and Meijer, a privately-held retailer with stores in the U.S. Midwest, started giving away some generic antibiotics most often taken for childhood ailments such as strep throat.
But Wal-Mart said it had no plans to offer drugs for free.
“We’re in business to make money,” said Bill Simon, the chief operating officer of Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores. “Free is a price that is not a long-term sustainable proposition.”
Agwunobi said Wal-Mart is continually looking for ways to its expand its low-priced drug program and cut prices on branded drugs.
“This is one more step in that journey,” Agwunobi said. “It’s not the last step, it’s just the next.”
Wal-Mart shares were down 30 cents at $57.20 in midday trading.
(Reporting by Nicole Maestri; Editing by Brian Moss and Steve Orlofsky)
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