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Wednesday, September 11, 2002

By Joyce Gannon, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Almost as soon as terrorists were linked to the events of Sept. 11, executives at Bayer Corp. began talking about producing more Cipro, an antibiotic that treats anthrax infections, because of fears there might be bioterrorism incidents. Then, after anthrax began showing up in mailed packages, Cipro became a household name, and Bayer suffered some criticism over how willing it was to supply enough of the drug in case there was a widespread anthrax crisis.

Bayer eventually struck a deal with the government to sell up to 300 million Cipro tablets at discounts of 50 percent or greater. It also donated 4 million tablets for federal and postal workers. But because no anthrax epidemic materialized, the company sold only 100 million tablets to the government.

In a prepared statement, Attila Molnar, head of Bayer's U.S. operations based in Robinson, said "we're proud that Bayer was ready, willing and able ... to make a contribution to America and its security in the face of terrorism."