Drug Firms Scramble on Scare
Companies Race to Resupply U.S. With Vaccines, Antibiotics
By Terence Chea and Justin Gillis
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, October 18, 2001; Page A10
The world's drug companies are suddenly scrambling to supply the federal government with new stocks of vaccines and antibiotics to cope with the anthrax scare and to prepare the country to meet future biological attacks.
In an echo of a strategy used during World War II, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a Washington trade group, said yesterday that a new task force will serve as a liaison with the government, a vehicle that would allow the industry to assess new requests rapidly and figure out which companies are best qualified to meet them.
Bayer AG, the German pharmaceutical giant, said it would triple production of the antibiotic Cipro, one of several anthrax treatments. Meanwhile, at least three companies are negotiating with the Department of Health and Human Services to supply millions of doses of smallpox vaccine, creating a stockpile big enough to vaccinate every person in America in the event of an attack using that germ.
If Congress provides the money, evolving HHS plans call for much of this armamentarium to be in place by the end of next year. However, drug and pharmaceutical companies, which are being asked to produce tons of supplies, could find such a schedule daunting.
PhRMA, the trade group, formed a Task Force on Emergency Preparedness to work with the government. New members of the panel, which includes executives from seven major drug companies, met yesterday with Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and members of Congress.
"We will work with the government on how best to address the public-health challenges that the government has identified so far," said Jeff Trewhitt, a PhRMA spokesman. "We believe the task force will be able to help coordinate a strong industry-wide role to assist the government in the coming weeks and months."
Bayer said it has taken significant steps to increase Cipro production. It plans to triple production, delivering 200 million tablets over the next three months, or about 15 million tablets a week. A typical regimen for a person exposed to anthrax is two tablets a day for 60 days, although several other antibiotics are likely to be usable in treating anthrax.
"We are fully committed to the government and our customers to meet the need as best as possible," Bayer spokeswoman Ellena Friedman said yesterday.
Spot shortages of Cipro have appeared around the country as people worried about anthrax have hoarded the drug. Public-health experts have appealed to people not to stock up, saying there is plenty of Cipro available for everyone who has been exposed.
Thompson said this week that the government plans to stockpile enough Cipro, the brand name for ciprofloxacin, to treat 12 million people -- six times the amount now on hand. Anthrax infection is acquired by direct exposure to liquids or powders containing the germ and does not spread from person to person, so bioterrorism experts say an attack exceeding even 1 million people is difficult to imagine.
Thompson also plans to quickly expand the nation's stockpile of smallpox vaccine. The country has a supply of old vaccine sufficient to vaccinate 15 million people, but because smallpox is contagious and often fatal, a terrorist attack using smallpox germs could easily create demand exceeding that supply.
Smallpox has been eradicated worldwide, and routine vaccination was discontinued in the early 1970s. Whether terrorists or rogue states possess smallpox stocks is uncertain but widely suspected.
The government had already signed a deal with Acambis PLC, a British firm, to supply 40 million doses of smallpox vaccine by 2004. Much of that order was subcontracted to BioReliance Corp. of Rockville.
Yesterday, Thompson said the government had increased the Acambis contract to 54 million doses and accelerated the schedule. He also said HHS has opened negotiations with other potential manufacturers with the goal of building a stockpile of 300 million doses -- more than sufficient to vaccinate all 285 million Americans. |
