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Fred Meyer, QFC to offer discount drugs in Oregon and Washington

 

05-Apr-2008: Joining mega-retailers Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., The Kroger Co. will offer $4 generic drugs at pharmacies in its Fred Meyer and QFC stores in Oregon and Washington.

The grocery chain announced Friday that it had begun selling varying doses of nearly 150 older prescription drugs that otherwise would average around $20. The prescriptions, sold at that price in 30-day allotments, include amoxicillin, the generic version of the antibiotic Amoxil; fluoxetine, the generic of the antidepressant Prozac; and Loratadine, a generic version of the allergy medication Claritin. Kroger also announced it would sell two generic versions of birth-control pills and a fertility drug, all for $9 each.

"All of us throughout the country are feeling severe financial issues," said Tammy Bottcher, a company spokeswoman. "Kroger felt this was a good time to launch this program to bring this service to our customers."

Cincinnati-based Kroger renegotiated its contracts with drug manufacturers to lower prices, she said, and began testing the now companywide program in a few markets last year.

While it's always nice to cut a few costs, pharmacy experts have said programs such as Kroger's don't offer much savings to most customers.

"It's more of a marketing ploy than anything else," said Jim Thompson, executive director of the Oregon State Pharmacy Association. He said more contemporary drugs -- names such as Lipitor and Viagra familiar from TV commercials -- won't be on the list.

"This will save you money if you happen to have prescriptions for one or more of those drugs," he said. "But most people will find that they don't. Most people will be lucky if they find that they have one of them."

Bottcher said Kroger is using the same list of prescriptions as Wal-Mart, which, in 2006, was the first to roll out a similar discount generic program at its stores. A month later, Target followed suit, and since then a few grocery chains also have discounted certain generic drugs.

Wal-Mart later announced that in its first year the $4 drugs made up 40 percent of all filled prescriptions. The discounter also said the program saved customers more than $610 million.

According to research from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, nearly 60 percent of prescriptions sold in the United States are generic. However, in dollar terms, the cheaper generics make up less than 20 percent of sales.

"This is just part of the changing culture that we have in the pharmacy industry today: It's much more competitive," said Thompson, adding that a Midwestern pharmacy chain began giving away drugs, including amoxicillin, which he said is often prescribed to sick children.

"They say, 'We're doing this to support families,' but c'mon guys, you're doing this as a loss leader," he said referring to the practice of selling one highly discounted item in hopes of getting customers in the door to make full-price purchases.

Source: The Oregonian - OregonLive.com