Bush Protects Drug Giant's Patent on Anthrax Medicine

First things first... Bush protects drug giant's patent
on anthrax medicine

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/oct2001/cip-o20.shtml

By Jerry White

In the light of the recent cases of anthrax contamination, officials from
the Bush administration have repeatedly asserted the government's number one
priority is ensuring the health and safety of the American public. Behind
the scenes, however, the White House had demonstrated its overriding concern
is protecting the profits of giant pharmaceutical companies.

The Bush administration has vehemently resisted demands to break Bayer AG's
patent on Cipro,the drug most recommended for treatment of anthrax,and
permit other drug companies to produce a cheaper generic version of the
antibiotic. The White House has rallied to the side of the German
conglomerate on the grounds that ending its monopoly of the production and
distribution of the antibiotic would violate free market principles and
undermine the industry's incentive to create new drugs.

In a conference call with reporters earlier this week Health and Human
Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said such a move would be illegal and that
the administration was not "in the process of breaking patents."

On Thursday the Canadian government announced it had broken the patent and
ordered a million tablets of a generic version from another company. "These
are extraordinary and unusual times," said Paige Raymond Kovach, a
spokeswoman for Health Canada. "Canadians expect and demand that their
government will take all steps necessary to protect their health and
safety."

This argument didn't cut any ice with the Bush administration, however,
which dismissed the Canadian decision. "We don't feel there's a need to lift
the patent at this time," reiterated Anthony Jewell, a spokesman for the
Health and Human Services office.

Although Bayer says it is tripling production of Cipro, it will take the
company 20 months, working 24 hours a day, to produce the minimum amount
that the US government says is required. The government has currently
stockpiled enough antibiotics to treat 2 million people for 60 days each,
but health officials say in an emergency enough medicine to treat 12 million
people is required.

Five drug companies, which have received initial approval to produce generic
versions of the drug pending the expiration of Bayer's patent in 2003, say
they could produce the same quantity in three months. They could also sell
the antibiotics at a fraction of the cost. A generic drug from reputable
suppliers costs only $10 a month in India, for example, while Bayer sells a
month'ss supply of Cipro in the US for $350.

Cipro was Bayer's number one seller even before the September 11 attacks,
with $1.6 billion in sales last year. The Federal Trade Commission is
currently investigating reports that Bayer made payments to another drug
company to delay the introduction of generic versions, a common practice by
large brand-name manufacturers.

Patent lawyers have ridiculed the Bush administration’s claims that
overriding Bayer's patent is illegal. "It boils down to something very
simple," Alfred B. Engelberg, a veteran patent attorney told the New York
Times: "The government has the right to procure whatever it needs for
government purposes."

An official close to the administration acknowledged the White House had
"clearly made a political decision" to defend Bayer's patent. This is not
surprising given the Bush administration's close ties to the drug companies,
which donated heavily to the president's campaign and Republican election
committees in 2000. The pharmaceutical industry donated nearly $2 million
for the cost of Bush's inauguration.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is one of two Bush cabinet members who
is a former drug company executive. Rumsfeld led Searle, now Pharmacia, from
1977 to 1985, while Mitch Daniels, the director of the Office of Management
and Budget, was a top executive at Eli Lilly. Top officials from drug maker
Merck and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America also sat
on advisory committees shaping the administration's health care policies,
including its virulent opposition to regulating prescription medicine
prices.

The Bush administration has also done the bidding of the drug companies
internationally, most infamously with its opposition to allowing South
Africa, Brazil and other poor countries to produce cheaper generic AIDS
drugs. In this latest case, the White House has again upheld private
property rights over public health.