The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) today said Wal-Mart’s widely publicized generic drug program will provide minimal benefit to most patients because of the very limited number of medications included on the list of drugs that are covered. The company announced that it will begin offering a very limited number of generic medications for $4 in 14 additional states starting today. Wal-Mart launched the campaign in Florida last month.

“If you look at the list of medications they are offering for $4, it represents about one percent of the total number of drugs available,” said NCPA Executive Vice President and CEO Bruce Roberts, RPh. “The question people should be asking Wal-Mart is, ‘What will you be charging for the other 99 percent of the medications that people need?’”

There are more than 11,000 drugs listed by the Food and Drug Administration, and while the Wal-Mart program claims to offer more than 300 medicines, its list actually includes fewer than 150 different drugs.

• For example, 12 different versions of the antibiotic amoxicillin are included on the list.
• Many older medications are on the list, and newer, replacement medications that often work better or have fewer side effects are not included.

“Wal-Mart’s original list included none of the generic statins used to treat high cholesterol,” Roberts said. “After much criticism, the company added the oldest and weakest one and with one of the worst profiles for side effects. Patients deserve good care. Instead they are being used by Wal-Mart just to drive traffic to their stores.”

The impact of Wal-Mart’s program also raises concerns about patient safety and the professional counseling role of pharmacists.

“We have tremendous respect for the power of prescription medications and the lifesaving—or if used incorrectly, life-threatening—power they possess,” Roberts said. “NCPA hopes that Wal-Mart pharmacists will be given the time to adequately counsel all of their patients about all of their prescription medicines.”

NCPA also is examining any anti-competitive aspects of Wal-Mart’s action. Wal-Mart is known for driving small-town businesses out of business through deceptive and predatory pricing practices and then raising prices on prescription drugs and other health-related products.

“Prescription medicines are not a commodity like T-shirts and DVDs,” Roberts said. “Community pharmacists are in the health care business and provide a value to patients no matter what medications they are taking. We are concerned that patients will be both misled and disappointed by the limited number of medicines in this new program.”

The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the nation’s community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 24,000 pharmacies. The nation’s independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation's retail prescription medicines.