Wal-Mart price war aimed at PBMs

A US health economist has argued that the latest round of discount prescription drug prices (Marketletter May 12) recently announced by Wal-Mart, the largest retailer by sales, is part of a strategy to move into "the lucrative turf" of pharmacy benefit managers. Jane Sarasohn-Kahn, founder of a consultancy firm, THINK-Health, argues that the $10 for a 90-day supply of certain generic medicines "puts Wal-Mart firmly in the pharmacy benefits management segment vis-a-vis ExpressScripts, Medco and the [other] big PBM players."

Ms Sarasohn-Kahn noted that, while the latest round in the retailer-driven generic drugs price war has shaken up the consumer end of the industry, there is a long way to go in order to achieve genuine transparency. Citing figures released by Consumer Reports, an advocacy group, she noted that charges to patients for the same branded or generic drug could vary considerably.

Among the examples quoted by CR: global drug behemoth Pfizer's overactive bladder drug Detrol/ Detrol LA (tolterodine) cost between $365 to $551 in different pharmacies; US and French drug majors Bristol-Myers Squibb's and Sanofi-Aventis' antiplatelet agent Plavix (clopidogrel) ranged from $382 to $541; and generic osteoporosis therapy alendronate varied between $124 and $306. The latter, an off-patent version of USA-based Merck & Co's Fosamax, is one of the products offered by Wal-Mart and rival Target at a significant discount.