After an uproar
over alleged patent infringement, Canada will buy the anti-anthrax drug
Cipro from Bayer Corp., officials of the pharmaceutical giant said.
"We have agreed
to supply 1 million tablets within 48 hours of a request," said Doug Grant,
Bayer's vice-president of public policy and communications, during a telephone
news conference.
Under an agreement
reached late Monday, Bayer will be the only Cipro supplier for Canada's
health ministry, said Neil Belmore, a Bayer patent lawyer. In return, the
company will not sue the Canadian government, he said.
The country
also will give Bayer 1 million tablets of generic ciprofloxacin, made by
Toronto's Apotex Inc., on request from the health ministry. The stockpile
will not be used, Belmore said, unless anthrax infection becomes so widespread
in Canada supplies of brand-name Cipro are exhausted.
Bayer and the
Canadian Health Ministry had been at odds over whether the company could
meet the country's Cipro needs. The row erupted last week, after health
ministry officials, unsure of Bayer's capabilities, asked Apotex to produce
the generic Cipro.
Grant said
Bayer was never asked to supply 1 million tablets of the drug, although
he said two earlier orders from the health ministry were accepted and filled.
"We got no
call from Health Canada for the order that was placed with Apotex," he
said.
Pressed to
be more specific, Grant said the company was not called about the order,
did not get a formal order and never "indicated" to Health Canada there
might be a problem fulfilling such a large order. Grant would not comment
on health ministry allegations of production shortfalls.
Bayer officials
said last Friday the Apotex deal infringed its patent on the drug. Legal
action against the government has been ruled out, Belmore said, but the
company still could take Apotex to court.
Apotex president
Jack Kay said the threat of legal action is "nothing new. I've been in
litigation with Bayer on Cipro since 1996."
Apotex's generic
version of the drug has passed all regulatory steps, Kay said, but has
not been approved for sale, since under Canadian patent law, approval can
be stalled by a legal challenge over patents.
Kay said he
expects to be paid $1.5 million Canadian or about $954,000 for the generic
drugs, which will be delivered to the Canadian health ministry by Nov.
8 and then turned over to Bayer for storage as part of Monday's agreement.
Grant said Ottawa
will pay the going wholesale price for Cipro tablets, but only when the
pills are actually delivered. He refused to name a figure, but the current
price for a Cipro tablet is about $2 Canadian, or $1.30 U.S.
Ciprofloxacin
is the antibiotic believed to be most effective against inhalation anthrax,
but other medications, including penicillin and doxycycline, can also treat
the disease.
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Copyright 2001 by United
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