The worldwide run on anthrax antidote Cipro has put its maker, Bayer, on high alert to boost production – and sent its stock jumping.
The pharmaceutical giant based in Germany said it will increase production of its anthrax antibiotic pill by 25 percent to meet demand. It’s the only oral treatment approved in the U.S. for anthrax treatment. Shares of Bayer’s U.S.-traded securities rose about 5 percent to $31.35, up $1.48.
Bayer had been reeling from a fiasco this year with its anti-cholesterol drug Baycol, which was yanked from the market a month ago after it was linked to 50 deaths.
The company said it will open a mothballed German factory to make the new shipments of Cipro by Nov. 1. It sells about $1.6 billion of Cipro annually. The military has the largest inventory of Cipro in the U.S.
Pharmacy shelves have been stripped of most Cipro supplies, particularly in Florida where a suspicious outbreak of anthrax killed one man and exposed others in a Boca Raton office building.
In New York, a word-of-mouth network has also evolved for people seeking Cipro, thanks to American tourists who’ve just returned from international travel with unused supplies of the pills.
Cipro is one of the required medications U.S. travelers must take to go to certain parts of the world, including India and Asia.
Bayer is also hoping that its surge in Cipro sales will bail out the company from its projected 2001 loss of $720 million. Bayer had planned to cut several thousand jobs but may need more personnel to run the newly reopened Cipro factory.
The only U.S. maker of a vaccine against anthrax, Bioport Corp., hasn’t been able to meet Food and Drug Administration requirements to market the anthrax drug here.