Bayer increases production of anthrax antibiotic Cipro

The antibiotic Cipro has gone from relative obscurity to part of America’s new vocabulary in less than two weeks.

Just 14 months since Bayer became the only company to receive Food and Drug Administration approval to produce the anthrax antibiotic, demand is exploding.

Bayer, which has a patent on the drug until 2003, has begun producing it seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

‘‘We’ve been watching sales since September 11, when we were selling approximately 300 to 400 bottles a day,’’ said Stewart Rahr, president of the Whitestone, New York-based drug distributor Kinray Inc.

After the first case of anthrax was reported in Florida, Rahr said sales increased to about 1,000 bottles per day. Sales jumped again - to 1,500 to 2,000 bottles per day - following the first New York case, he said.

Rahr said Bayer’s ability to deliver the drug was ‘‘spotty’’ initially, but it is now delivering enough that Kinray can keep a five-day supply, or about 10,000 bottles.

Cipro, known chemically as ciprofloxacin, received FDA approval in 1987 and is used to treat a variety of infections, including urinary tract infections and sinusitis. The drug was approved as an anthrax treatment in August last year.

Before the September 11 attacks, Bayer made the drug for 40 hours a week, shipping 20 million tablets in the average month, according to officials at the company’s US headquarters in Pittsburgh.

Bayer spokesman Mark Ryan said yesterday the company has shipped 50 million tablets in the past month, and has told the government it will supply 200 million tablets in the next three months.

Initial reports from drug distributors and national pharmacy chains indicate Bayer has had few problems handling the Cipro orders.

Still, New York Senator Charles Schumer yesterday asked the US Department of Health and Human Services to allow the government to purchase a generic form of the drug directly from manufacturers.

‘‘Knowing we have enough Cipro just in case would go a long way toward calming the public about potential shortages and hopefully dissuade people from buying, stockpiling and taking a drug they currently don’t need,’’ said Schumer.

One major drug wholesaler, Cardinal Health, said it has been unable to fill all of its orders.

Phil Schneider, president of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, spoke with members during a conference call yesterday, and was told there have been few problems filling prescriptions. The organisation represents 34,000 chain pharmacies in the United States, Schneider said.

The first reports of anthrax exposure came shortly before the October 5 death of Bob Stevens, 63, a photo editor at The Sun tabloid in Boca Raton, Florida. He died of the inhaled form of anthrax.

Until that case, only 18 instances of inhaled anthrax had been reported in the United States during the 20th century, the most recent in 1976.

Unless the disease is treated before symptoms begin, 90% of victims die within days.