http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011031/hl/pharmaceuticals_1.html
Wednesday October 31 5:29 PM ET
By Ori Twersky
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) -The US government may soon have access to an abundance
of antibiotics, scientific experts and vaccines that could be used to combat
bioterrorism at no cost to the American public.
In a meeting with Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, several US-based
pharmaceutical companies pledged on Wednesday to provide free drugs and
scientific experts to help the government keep its pledge to stockpile enough
supplies for every American.
The move follows German drugmaker Bayer AG's prior agreement to supply the
US with the antibiotic Cipro (ciprofloxin) at a reduced price of about 95 cents
a tablet. Bayer committed to the agreement after it suffered a flurry of bad
publicity and threats from US lawmakers to override its patent on the drug in
order to ensure the US with an adequate supply.
The current pledge would provide the government with access to seven
additional antibiotics believed to be effective treatments for anthrax,
including two antibiotics in the same class as Cipro. These drugs are
Bristol-Myers Squibb's Tequin (gatifloxacin) and Johnson & Johson's
Levaquin (levofloxacin).
Neither antibiotic has been approved for the treatment of anthrax. But both
companies said they would give the government as many as 100 million tablets
each if the US Food and Drug Administration (news
- web
sites) (FDA) were to allow them to incorporate that indication on their
drugs' labels.
Levaquin currently sells at about $8 per tablet wholesale and Tequin at
about $6.82 per tablet wholesale.
According to industry representatives, a similar offer was made to Secretary
of Health and Human Services (news
- web
sites) Tommy Thompson on October 17, when he met with the chief executives
of the nation's largest pharmaceutical makers.
``The best way to put it is that these companies wanted to repeat the pledge
to make sure he Tom Ridge understands what was being offered,'' Jeff Trewhitt,
a spokesman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA),
told Reuters Health.
PhRMA is the nation's largest representative of drugmakers.
Trewhitt added that another ten vaccine makers have now also pledged to
supply the government with enough smallpox vaccine for every American by the
end of next year, although details of that plan have yet to be worked out.
In addition, Trewhitt said PhRMA is now forming an advisory committee aimed
at bringing industry scientists together with government scientists to help
formulate a better plan for responding to bioterrorist threats.
Still, some critics have charged that the nation's drugmakers are using the
disaster as a public relations ploy aimed at improving their image.
These critics have noted that in recent years, these companies' images have
been battered by the controversy over the high cost of prescription drugs and
the seeming unwillingness of the industry to supply low-cost drugs to elderly
Americans and poor countries.
In response, Trewhitt did not contest the claims.
``We have always thought that the best public relations is doing the right
thing and getting caught,'' he told Reuters Health.
But Trewhitt added that historically American pharmaceutical firms have
always stepped up in times of crisis to help the nation.
For example, Trewhitt pointed out, Pfizer Inc. significantly increased its
production of penicillin in World War II to ensure that troops on the front had
an adequate supply.
``We are citizens of this country first,'' Trewhitt said.
As for the cost to the industry, Trewhitt said there are no rough estimates to
cite. But it would be fair to say that the costs will mount into the millions,
he told Reuters Health.
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