Newark, N.J., gives its residents access to $2 generics with new program

NEWARK, N.J. The city of Newark, N.J., announced that it is launching a program to offer residents more than 300 generic drugs for $2 under the “Brick City Respite,” a public-private partnership funded by the Heinz Family Philanthropies.

The program will run through Feb. 28, 2010 and cover 30-day supplies of such medications as the antibiotic amoxicillin and the diabetes drug metformin.

“Brick City Respite recognizes that our citizens need help, and being able to buy their medications for $2 is a wonderful way to say ‘happy holidays,’” Newark mayor Cory Booker stated. “This program demonstrates what can happen when great minds decide every challenge is really a solution waiting to happen.”

Brick City Respite is designed to provide temporary help to all Newark residents, insured and uninsured, in response to rapidly increasing medical costs, the city government said. The program complements the NewarkHealthPlus and NewarkRx partnerships created three years ago as a partnership between the city, the Heinz philanthropy and pharmaceutical companies to provide free healthcare and prescription drugs to poor residents with chronic illnesses.