Rollback Redux

Wal-Mart expands its $4 generic prescription program today with its announcement that it will be launching the program in fourteen additional states - covering 1,264 stores located in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Vermont. Wal-Mart debuted the program in Florida pharmacies in early October.

Comments

1. At 01:53 PM on Fri, Oct 20, 2006 Scott wrote:

   Wal-Mart's announcement that the giant retailer would sell nearly 300 generic drugs for $4 per prescription, whether or not they have insurance, is being promoted as a big savings opportunity for all Americans. In fact, rival Target Stores announced it would match Wal-Marts move. But diabetes patients who require insulin, including all of the 1.1 million Americans with type 1 diabetes, will not be sharing in the savings.

   Why?

   Because there are no generic insulins sold in the U.S. in spite of the fact that the patents on Eli Lilly & Company's Humulin insulin products expired in 2001, and Novo Nordisk's Novolin insulin products expired in 2002, for a variety of reasons, generic copies do not yet exist. In fact, in August 2006, four state governors, looking to ease drug costs under state programs, petitioned the FDA to provide guidelines for generic versions of insulin and somatropin/human growth hormone (HGH). In their petition, the governors joined other critics in accusing the FDA of dragging its feet. Since then, the governors of New Mexico, Virginia and West Virginia have also signed the petition.

   Please see my article on this subject available soon on Diabetes Health's website in the near future.