Did Bayer Prevent Generic Version of Anti-Anthrax Drug Cipro?

The following article is by the German group CBG/Coordination against BAYER-dangers. The group has been monitoring the Bayer Corp. for more than 20 years.

Did the Bayer Corporation pay other pharmaceutical manufacturers not to manufacture generic versions of Cipro, a brandname for the prescription antibiotic ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, which is used against anthrax?

Gilman and Pastor, LLP, is prosecuting a nationwide class action on behalf of all persons or entities in the US who purchased and/or paid for Cipro at any time since Jan. 8, 1997.

“We allege that beginning on Jan. 8, 1997, Bayer AG entered into unlawful and anti-competitive agreements with Barr Laboratories, Inc. and Hoechst Marion Roussel, Inc. under which, in exchange for over $50 million per year, Barr and Hoechst Marion Roussel agreed not to manufacture or market a generic version of Cipro. These agreements allowed Bayer to maintain a monopoly over the ciprofloxacin market” and to charge super-high prices for the drug, the suit alleges. “As a result of the unlawful agreements, Plaintiffs and the Class have been deprived of the ability to purchase generic ciprofloxacin at a competitive price.”

Price comparisons for a 500 mg tablet of Ciprofloxacin in US dollars as of October 21, 2001 show the following: US Bayer wholesale 4.67; US Bayer best federal government 1.83; Canada Bayer/government 1.58; South Africa/government 2.10; India generic 3 cents; Poland Bayer 1.51; Poland Polfa Grodzisk generic 29 cents.

In response to the drastic price differences between what Bayer charges and what the generic price could be, consumer activist and Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader and his associate James Love sent the following letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson:

“Dear Secretary Thompson:

“We were shocked by your comments in the October 17, 2001 Washington Post, indicating that you do not have the legal authority to authorize generic production of ciprofloxacin, a drug used to treat victims of an anthrax attack. This, of course, is not true. As your own staff is well aware, you may use 28 USC 1498 to issue compulsory licenses for patents, and you could immediately authorize the five companies who have already satisfied US FDA requirements for the quality of their products to speed the manufacturer of ciprofloxacin, and indeed this could and should be done for any other medicine needed to confront the current crisis.…

“Bayer, the giant German pharmaceutical firm, currently markets ciprofloxacin on an exclusive basis in the US. Drug stores are charging in some cases more than $700 for a two month’s supply of medicine that can be obtained for as little as $20 in some foreign county generic markets, and now it seeks to be the exclusive company that can supply 1.2 billion pills to the federal government. Bayer stands to make hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attack on Americans.

“In the absence of adequate government stockpiles, families who cannot afford the hundreds of dollars per month per family member for ciprofloxacin risk not having access to this product, should the need arise. This is an unethical and unnecessary form of rationing. Some government officials and those who can afford the high prices have secure supplies of ciprofloxacin. It is your duty to see that all taxpayers and especially those who are less affluent are protected, and are protected as soon as is possible, not as soon as it is possible for one firm, Bayer, to supply the market. And it would make sense to have redundant sources of supply, for all of the obvious reasons….

“Your official responsibility is to protect the public’s health, and not to defend large profiteering pharmaceutical companies, which are already making a fortune because of our country’s current problems. How do you define the patriotic choice here?”

CBG/Coordination against BAYER-dangers, Postfach 15 04 18, 40081 Duesseldorf, Germany. E-mail: CBGnetwork@aol.com; www.CBGnetwork.org; Fax: (+49) 211-333-940 Tel: (+49) 211-333-911.