Target expands $4 drugs beyond Wal-Mart’s plan

Target Corp. expanded its $4 generic drug program to all of its U.S. pharmacies Monday, moving beyond states where it was matching a plan offered by rival Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Target said all of its 1,287 pharmacies across the United States would offer some generic versions of drugs at $4 for a 30-day supply. The discount retailer had previously matched the list of drugs being sold for $4 at Wal-Mart, but only in states where Wal-Mart was offering the plan.

Now, Target is selling $4 generic drugs in nine states where Wal-Mart has not yet rolled out its program: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

Target also said that it was charging more for certain drugs -- such as cholesterol drugs lovastatin and pravastatin -- and some dosages of other drugs in 10 states because of state law.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart started selling certain generic drugs for $4 a prescription in Florida in September. Since then, Wal-Mart has brought the $4 drugs to 37 more states and said it planned to extend the program to additional states as fast as it could. The cut-price drugs are now available in 3,009 Wal-Mart pharmacies. Wal-Mart has about 3,960 U.S. stores.

When Wal-Mart announced the $4 plan in September, it drove down shares of generic-drug makers, pharmacy-benefit managers and drugstore chains such as Walgreen Co. and CVS Corp.

The drugstore companies and analysts have said they see little threat from Wal-Mart’s plan, saying that cash prescriptions, or those customers who don’t have insurance to help defray the cost of prescriptions, account for only a small portion of their profits.

Shares of Minneapolis-based Target, which operates 1,494 stores in 47 U.S. states, fell 32 cents to $57.90 on Monday. Shares of Wal-Mart rose 22 cents to $47.72.