Wal-Mart Expands $4 Drug Program

A year after launching its $4 prescription drug program, Wal-Mart yesterday added 24 names to its list of 361 generic medications. The company boasts that it now covers more than 95% of treatable common diseases, the St Petersburg Times reports, but critics call the program a publicity stunt and say Wal-Mart is using it as a loss leader.

Half the new offerings are various dosages of a blood thinner and a beta-blocker, but the other 12 include a fertility drug and two varieties of birth control pill (which go for $9 rather than $4). The retail giant says customers saved $610 million in the past 12 months compared to what they had been paying. (More Walmart stories.)