Costalegre Jalisco Mexico

Wire services
El Universal
Viernes 04 de mayo de 2007

Wal-Mart de México SA, Latin America´s biggest retailer, began selling generic drugs for 39 pesos (US$3.57) or less at its Mexican stores to boost revenue.
The company plans to offer by July 30 as many as 250 discounted drugs at 564 pharmacies located inside Wal-Mart Supercenters, Sam´s Club, Bodega Aurerra and Vips outlets, said Senior Vice President Joaquín González during a news conference Thursday in Mexico City, where Wal- Mart de México is based.

The move mirrors a generic- drugs program parent Wal-Mart Stores Inc. introduced in the United States in September. The Mexican retailer will immediately offer 156 types of generic drugs, under the brand Medi-Mart, at most of the pharmacies, González said.

Chief Executive Officer Luis Eduardo Solórzano won the support of the federal government for the plan.

"The high price of medicine has been a permanent complaint of the people," Health Secretariat José Ángel Córdoba Villalobos said.

Solórzano said the plan helps meet the government´s goal to increase competition in the pharmaceutical industry.

The drugs sold by Wal-Mart under the program are made by eight Mexican companies.

Shares of Walmex, as the Mexican retailer is known, rose 59 centavos, or 1.4 percent to 43.80 pesos at the close of Mexico City trading.

Wal-Mart Stores, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, sells a month´s supply of 331 generic drugs for US$4 each in the United States.