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U.S. gets discount Cipro
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October 24, 2001: 3:56 p.m. ET
Bayer supplying 100M anti-anthrax tablets at 95 cents each.
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NEW YORK (CNNmoney) - Bayer Corp. has agreed to supply the U.S. government with up to 300 million tablets of its anti-anthrax drug Cipro at a discount price of 95 cents per tablet.
Bayer said Wednesday the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services made an initial order of 100 million tablets for $95 million, reduced from the previously discounted price of $1.77 per tablet.
The company also is donating 2 million tablets to the government for use in treating emergency workers.
The government has an option to purchase an additional 200 million tablets.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said Tuesday he was determined to get the government cost for Cipro under $1.
Bayer also said it will rotate the government's inventory of the drug to ensure a fresh supply.
Earlier Wednesday Mary Kuhn, head of operations for Bayer's pharmaceutical division, testified to the senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services that the company can fulfill the demands of Cipro in the United States.
Kuhn said with current inventories and the amount of Cipro now being supplied, in conjunction with other approved drugs such as doxycycline, there is enough to treat 12 million Americans. 
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