Target to expand discounted generic drug program to all pharmacies

Target Corporation on Monday announced it will expand a discounted generic drug program to all pharmacies, Reuters/New York Times reports.

The Minneapolis-based company said all of its 1,287 pharmacies now will offer a 30-day supply of certain generic drugs for $4. The company previously offered the program only in states where Wal-Mart was offering generic drugs at the same price (Reuters/New York Times, 11/21).

Wal-Mart in September announced the program, under which some company pharmacies sell 30-day prescriptions of certain generic medications for $4 each (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 11/17). Wal-Mart now offers the program in 3,009 pharmacies in 37 states.

Target said it now plans to offer the program in nine states where Wal-Mart is not yet offering its program: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Target also said that it will be charging more for certain drugs, including cholesterol drugs lovastatin and pravastatin, and for some dosages of other drugs in 10 states because of state laws.

Target does not operate pharmacies in North Dakota or Wyoming and does not have stores in Alaska, Hawaii or Vermont, a company spokesperson said (Reuters/New York Times, 11/21).

Walgreen has lost little business to Wal-Mart over the discounted generic drug program, according to report released Monday by retail analyst Mark Miller of William Blair, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

According to the report, Walgreen has lost "fewer than one (prescription) per store per day" since Wal-Mart launched its generic drug program. According to the Sun-Times, the results "appear to confirm Walgreen's earlier argument that Wal-Mart's program has little benefit because the lower-priced drugs are older generics that insured patients pay an average of only $5 for anyway" (Guy, Chicago Sun-Times, 11/21).

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