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Wal-Mart Adds More Options to $4 Drug Program

Posted on: Monday, 5 May 2008, 12:00 CDT

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Monday updated its $4 drug program to include 90-day supply orders, additional to treat osteoporosis and breast cancer, and more than 1,000 popular over-the-counter drugs at less than 50 percent of the cost.

Wal-Mart also said it has saved Texans $149 million since starting its $4 drug program in September 2006, and Dallas-Fort Worth customers have saved nearly $46 million with the program.

"Access to affordable prescription medicines is vitally important to the health and well-being of Texans," said Governor Rick Perry in a statement. "I applaud Wal-Mart's efforts to make this a reality through their $4 Program."

Strong pricing power helps keep drugs inexpensive for customers, said Bill Simon, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Wal-Mart's Stores division.

"When our volume goes, up we're able to buy better," Mr. Simon said on a conference call Monday.

Changes to Wal-Mart's drug program include:

Enhanced $4 Prescription Program -- Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sam's Club pharmacies will fill prescriptions for up to 350 generic medications at $10 for a 90-day supply. There is no need to sign-up for a pharmacy discount card.

Additional women's health medicines -- Expanding on the women's medicines added to Wal-Mart's prescription program in September 2007, Alendronate, the recently introduced generic version of Fosamax used to treat osteoporosis, is now available at Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sam's Club pharmacies for $9 for up to a 30-day supply or $24 for a 90-day supply.

Compared to the $54 that women previously paid for the same generic supply or $102 for the same branded supply, Wal-Mart says it could save osteoporosis patients between $45 and $93 per month or up to $1,116 per year.

In addition, medications to treat breast cancer (tamoxifen), menopause and hormone deficiency (combination estrogen/methyltestosterone tablets) were also added to the list of $9 women's medications.

New $4 over-the-counter offering -- More than 1,000 OTC items are now priced at $4 or less without a prescription. Almost one-third of its OTC medicines are now $4 or lower.

Commonly used OTC medicines such as the Equate-brand versions of popular drugs like Zantac, Pepcid and Claritin are priced at $4, approximately 50 percent lower than many national chain drugstores and grocers, according to Wal-Mart's internal research.

By reducing the cost of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, Wal-Mart is putting into action what presidential candidates are proposing on the campaign trail, said Dr. John Agwunobi, Wal-Mart's senior vice president and president of health and wellness.

But he added that the world's largest retailer is not trying to shape the government's health policy.

"We're just trying to help our customers get through tough times."

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Source: The Dallas Morning News

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