Bayer lauds Cipro alternative

October 22, 2001 Posted: 1337 GMT

NEW YORK (CNNmoney) -- Bayer Corp., which makes the anthrax treatment Cipro, said Monday it is tripling its production of the antibiotic and supported the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision Thursday to classify doxycycline as an alternative treatment, part of Bayer's continuing campaign to prevent the approval of generic forms of Cipro.

Demand for Cipro has skyrocketed in recent weeks, driven by reports of anthrax cases in New York, Washington, D.C., and Florida, the apparent result of bioterrorism. Government officials are considering removing Bayer's patent protection for Cipro, which is scheduled to expire in 2003, so other companies can make generic Cipro and meet the swelling demand.

But Bayer, based in Germany, said its production facilities are running 24 hours a day seven days a week, and it expects to ship about 200 million tablets of Cipro -- triple the usual volume -- to distributors during the next three months. Bayer said the increased production, combined with supplies of other antibiotics approved for use against anthrax, including doxycycline, will be enough to effectively handle the threat.   

Chemical diagram of ciprofloxacin (Cipro)

"With this new, additional, government guidance for the treatment of anthrax published by the U.S. FDA, there will be ample supply of antibiotics available to millions of people for anthrax exposure through emergency stockpiles," Bayer said in a statement.

Unlike Cipro, doxycycline is available in generic form. Bayer competitor Pfizer Inc. (PFE: Research, Estimates) makes a version of the drug called Vibramycin.

The FDA said it is studying other possible anthrax treatments and would release results of that study soon. Bayer, the FDA and other health authorities are discouraging people from taking any anthrax antibiotic without evidence of exposure to the disease.

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