Wal-Mart extends generic price cuts

The world's largest firm by retail sales, Wal-Mart, has announced the addition of eight new generic drugs to its $4 per 30-day supply program in US stores (Marketletters passim). In addition, the firm said it was offering generic birth control drugs, Ortho Cyclen and Ortho Tri-Cyclen (norgestimate and ethinyl estradiol), as well as a fertility product at $9 per monthly supply.

The Florida-based St Petersburg Times, said the new medicines on the Wal-Mart scheme cover: acne; attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; fungal infections and glaucoma.

361 prescription formulations of 157 generic drugs are now covered by the retailer's discount program. Bill Simon, Wal-Mart's chief operating officer told the New York Times that the effect of the $351.1 billion annual-turnover firm had saved US consumers and health care payers about $610.0 million, since the venture's launch in September 2006.