IVAX to make doxycycline as anthrax treatment in USA

IVAX Pharmaceutical has won a US government contract to produce morethan 1.2 billion tablets of doxycycline, an antibiotic which can be used for the treatment of anthrax.

The news comes hot on the heels of an announcement from US health officials that they now favor the use of the older and cheaper doxycycline rather than Bayer's Cipro (ciprofloxacin) on which the government had just reached a deal with the latter company, which still holds patents on the product (Marketletter November 5).

As reported last week, IVAX has also applied for US Food and Drug Administration approval to make generic ciprofloxacin.