Walgreens Launches New and Improved Prescription Savings Club as Approximately 1 in 4 U.S. Adults Lack Adequate Prescription Drug Coverage

DEERFIELD, Ill., May 15, 2012 - Approximately one in four U.S. adults lacks adequate prescription drug coverage¹, and with both cost savings and access to health care top of mind for many Americans, Walgreens (NYSE, NASDAQ: WAG) has introduced a new and improved Prescription Savings Club program - providing members greater value and covering a more comprehensive range of medications than any similar offering by any major drugstore chain in the marketplace today. The program is part of the company’s Well at Walgreens strategy to make Walgreens America’s first choice for health and daily living.

The Prescription Savings Club offers discounts on more than 8,000 brand name and generic medications, and now includes more than 700 value-priced generics – nearly twice the number previously offered – for as low as $1 per week for a 90-day supply. The use of generics has resulted in more than $1 trillion in savings to the U.S. health care system over the last decade (from 1999-2010),² and now approximately 50 percent of all brand name drugs on the market have a generic equivalent available.

Additional benefits of the program include discounts on services at Take Care Clinics in select Walgreens stores³ and most immunizations such as a flu shot. The program also is a great option for pet owners, with discounts on select pet medications with a human equivalent. In addition, the program offers a 10 percent bonus on Walgreens, W, and Nice! brand products. The Walgreens Prescription Savings Club program currently saves members on average $170 per year and is available through all of the more than 7,800 Walgreens stores nationwide.

“In today’s challenging economic and health care environment, Walgreens is focused on becoming a community health care provider to help people live well, stay well and get well, and our Prescription Savings Club is an affordable solution for millions of people who struggle to manage their prescription needs,” said Kermit Crawford, Walgreens president of pharmacy, health and wellness. “Adequate prescription drug coverage is a significant issue for millions of Americans, and this program is one of the ways we’re helping people get the medications and health care services they need.”

Notably, nearly half (48 percent) of uninsured Americans in fair or poor health went without a prescription drug because of cost concerns in 2010.⁴

New and Improved Prescription Savings Club Features

Member benefits introduced as part of the new and improved program include:

• Discounts on more than 8,000 brand name and generic medications
• Coverage of an additional 300 value-priced generics for a total of more than 700
• Risk-free guarantee – if a member does not save at least the cost of their membership throughout the 12-month period, Walgreens will reimburse the difference
• A 10 percent discount on the purchase of all Walgreens brand, W brand and Nice! products
• A 10 percent savings on services from Take Care Clinics
• Discounts of 5-20 percent on most immunizations
• Additional discounts on diabetes management products and supplies
• Savings on numerous preventive and lifestyle medications not covered through many insurance plans

The new and improved Prescription Savings Club also includes benefits provided under the previous program, such as discounts on diabetic supplies, nebulizers and compounds and discounts on pet medications with a human equivalent. Membership is $20 per year for an individual and $35 for a family, including pets. Membership may be cancelled within 30 days of issue date for full refund.

The club is open to people of all ages who are not enrolled in a publicly funded health care plan. Those interested in joining can speak to any Walgreens pharmacist for details.

Prescription Savings Club Helps Drive Medication Adherence

Walgreens Prescription Savings Club also can help improve medication adherence rates among members. Non-adherence, or not taking medications as prescribed, is one of the biggest barriers in treating illness today, and has been estimated to cost the U.S. health care system $290 billion per year⁵. Walgreens data has shown improved adherence scores of nearly 10 percent⁶ by Prescription Savings Club members included in the study.

A more comprehensive list of medications included in the new and improved program, combined with coverage for medications used to treat most chronic conditions - such as diabetes and high blood pressure, for which medication adherence is especially crucial - now provides an opportunity for improving adherence rates even further.

People can sign up for Walgreens Prescription Savings Club online at (http://www.walgreens.com/pharmacy/psc/psc_overview_page.jsp?ban=rxh_psc_6) or by visiting any Walgreens pharmacy.

About Walgreens

As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America’s first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 7,855 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.

¹ S. R. Collins, R. Robertson, T. Garber, and M. M. Doty, Gaps in Health Insurance: Why So Many Americans Experience Breaks in Coverage and How the Affordable Care Act Will Help, The Commonwealth Fund, April 2012. (http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Publications/Issue-Briefs/2012/Apr/Gaps-in-Health-Insurance.aspx); Findings from The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey of 2010; Help is on the Horizon: How the Recession Has Left Millions of Workers Without Health Insurance, and How Health Reform Will Bring Relief, March 2011.
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² Research on Savings from Generic Drug Use, by the U.S. Government Accountability Office: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588064.pdf

³ Services are provided by Take Care Health Services^SM, an independently owned corporation whose licensed healthcare professionals are not employed by or agents of Walgreen Co., or its subsidiaries, including Take Care Health Systems^SM, LLC.

⁴ US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health: Americans' access to prescription drugs stabilizes, 2007-2010., Boukus ER, Carrier ER., Track Rep. 2011 Dec;(27):1-5.

⁵ NEHI Research Shows Patient Medication Nonadherence Costs Health Care System $290 Billion Annually

⁶ Prescription Savings Club Membership Drives Medication Adherence, Francis Staskon, PhD; Nikhil Khandelwal, PhD; Janeen DuChane, PhD; Jim Devine; Presented at the 24th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), San Francisco, CA, April 18-20, 2012.