VIAGRA NEWS

Source: Oshkosh Northwestern

Date: 6-Jan-2008

Author: Jeff Bollier

Some businesses hand out calendars at the beginning of the New Year to valued customers.

Ken Bressers does that. But he's also decided to give his customers free drugs, too.

Bressers, owner of Omro Pharmacy, 109 E. Main St., Omro, said he intends to pay for 14-day supplies of seven popular antibiotics for all customers, regardless of insurance or lack thereof, from now through March 31.

"We've been blessed with an increase in business due to the publicity we've gotten through the media and word of mouth," Bressers said. "This might just be a way to say thank you to everyone."

Bressers will fill a 14-day prescription for free and pay for it himself. The medications included in the offer are:

E Doxycycline,

E Amoxicillin,

E Cephalexin, a generic version of Keflex,

E Ciprofloxin, a generic version of Cipro,

E SMZ-TMP, a generic version of Bactrim,

E Penicillin and

E Erythromycin.

Bressers said he took the idea from a Michigan pharmacy that did the same thing, but said his own experiences with customers during winter months made him decide the antibiotics listed would be the ones given away.

"There's a trend against antibiotics being prescribed for viral infections, but if you're older, if you get a viral infection, a lot of doctors will still prescribe an antibiotic because it weakens the immune system and makes you susceptible to something like pneumonia or bronchitis," Bressers said. "You can tell them. They can't afford it. They don't get it filled."

But Bressers is not alone in this case. The Edwardsburg Argus reported Martin's Super Markets Pharmacies in South Bend, Ind., have started to offer eight antibiotics, most of them the same as the ones Bressers offers, on Jan. 2. And a Jan. 3 Marketplace report by Matt Sepic noted Schuck's grocery stores in St. Louis offered "a few dozen" varieties of common antibiotics.

He also said it's not an attempt to counteract corporate giants like Wal-Mart and Target from offering certain prescriptions for as little as $4 in some cases.

"We haven't lost business because our prices are the same or less than Wal-Mart including their $4 prescriptions," he said. "You go over there and buy a prescription for $4 and then a tube of ointment is $60. Most people see through it."

Bressers said he intended to write a check to pay for all the free prescriptions he fills after March 31.

He called the offer "a small gesture."