Wal-Mart expands $4 drug program, Target follows

Perhaps responding to the blizzard of industry and consumer PR, Wal-Mart has decided to expand its $4 generic prescription program from a small pilot in the Tampa Bay, FL area to the entire state of Florida right away, rather than waiting for January 2007 for the rollout. With the statewide rollout, Wal-Mart has expanded the list of $4 generics to include 314 drugs, including oncology drug Megestrol and cholesterol treatment Lovastatin, representing nearly 30 percent of prescriptions currently dispensed in the 235 Wal-Mart, Neighborhood Market and Sam's Club pharmacy locations in Florida. Not to be outdone, Target Stores announced yesterday that it, too, would offer $4 generics across all of Florida starting next Friday, though it will only offer the program for 150 drugs.

No official word has come in yet from the likes of RiteAid, CVS and other drug chains, as to whether they, too, would like to join the party--but expect some sort of response. The gauntlet has been thrown and if I were, say, Walgreens, I wouldn't just let it lie there. Maybe an "anything you can do, I can do better" play is in order?

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