North Carolina residents looking to buy generic pharmaceuticals may soon turn to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., which recently rolled back the prices of some generic drugs to $4 for a month's supply.
Target Corp.-the nation's No. 2 discount retailer-announced plans last week to implement a program similar to those at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, which offer a discounted monthly rate for 314 prescriptions in North Carolina and 14 other states.
"We're doing what we do best-rolling back prices and making things more available for the everyday person," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jami Arms, who cited as an example the successful sales of reduced-price prescription eyeglasses in Wal-Mart stores.
Figures published in a Wal-Mart press release estimate that collectively, uninsured customers in the state of Florida, with no supplements or discounts, could save as much as $2.5 million over the course of a year for the antidepressant Fluoxetine, for example.
Generic drugs often bring savings through reduced copayments and money saved by avoiding the costly marketing and development of brand-name drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies and critics, however, said the medications currently offered through the plan will bring about little savings for most.
"They must think that this is a way to market their drug story generally to people who go in and want to buy drugs with cash-particularly the uninsured," said Donald Taylor, assistant professor of public policy studies and community and family medicine at Duke's Center for Health Policy.
"The drugs that they have picked to start out with are very common ones," he added.
After it first launched the program in Tampa Bay, Fla., in September, Wal-Mart increased the number of drugs involved from 291 to 314, and currently plans to extend the program across the United States, Arms said.
Cardiac medications and antibiotics comprise more than half of the current drugs.
Taylor noted that the plan will save insured customers money if they replace other prescriptions with prescription medicine covered under the plan.
He added that an expanded plan with more medications would most significantly benefit the uninsured.
Pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS said they have no intention to join the trend, noting that many of the drugs in the $4 programs are already available at low prices.
"The average copay for the generics listed is just over $5 [for the insured]," Walgreens Corporate spokesperson Carol Hively wrote in an e-mail. "In addition, the list includes... a small portion of the more than 1,800 generic drugs available in our stores."
She added that some seniors already purchase drugs available in Wal-Mart's $4 program at Walgreens for lower prices.
Insurance companies have increasingly promoted generic drugs as a wise alternative to name-brand drugs, which have costly advertising promotions.
"Our popular program of eliminating copayments on generic prescription drugs is being extended through the end of the year," said Lew Borman, program manager of corporate communications for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina.
"The waiver program that began in February was initially expected to end July 31, but will now run until December 31," Borman added.
BCBS customers in North Carolina who participated in the initiative managed average out-of-pocket savings of $10 to $30 per month, he noted.
Taylor said that despite the low production costs of generic drugs, he was "surprised" by the initiative.
"In the end, I'm not sure people care where they get the drug," Taylor said.
"It really just depends on what drugs they decide to offer at lower rates," he added.
Wal-Mart has 82 supercenters and 34 discount stores operating in the state of North Carolina, according to its website.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.