Wal-Mart widens drug program to 11 more states

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer, on Monday said it is launching its $4 generic prescription program in 11 additional states.

Wal-Mart (Charts) said the prescription generics program will now be available in all of its 3,810 U.S. pharmacies, beginning Tuesday.

The final states included in the program are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

The company said the program now includes 331 generic prescriptions available for up to a 30-day supply at commonly prescribed dosages.

Wal-Mart said the list of generics, which includes some 143 compounds, represents more than one-fourth of the prescriptions dispensed in its pharmacies nationwide.

To date, as new states have been added to the program, 2.1 million more new prescriptions have been filled in those states as compared to the same time periods last year.

When Wal-Mart first announced the $4 plan in September, it drove down shares of drugstores chains such as Walgreen (Charts) and CVS (Charts). The drugstore companies and analysts have said they see little threat from Wal-Mart's plan, noting that cash prescriptions account for only a small portion of their profits.

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