The inventor of Cipro says the Canadian government has turned into a den of thieves for producing “illegal” quantities of his miracle anthrax anecdote.
“Anger isn’t the right emotion – I’m more than angry at the Canadian government. Stealing our ideas is what they are doing,” Dr. Karl Metzger told The Post.
Metzger and two other scientists at Bayer Co. created Cipro in 1981 to fight infections caused by bacteria, and launched it on the international market six years later.
This month, Cipro became as well known as Prozac and Viagra because of the anthrax mail scares around the world.
And Bayer, which holds the patent until December 2003, stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars as more and more prescriptions are filled.
But Canada’s health administration stunned Bayer this month by ordering 1 million tablets of a generic Cipro knockoff from rival drug firm Apotex to be stockpiled in case of a terrorist attack.
“It is simply illegal, and I’m upset,” Metzger said in a telephone interview from his home in Wuupertal, Germany.
The 71-year-old scientist also said he believes Cipro will be an effective drug for years because terrorists do not have the technical facilities to alter anthrax genetically into new strains.
“It’s impossible for simple people to do these experiments. To change the genetics would be too complicated for most people,” he said.
Metzger also predicted that America will win the war on terrorism and eventually smoke out Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.
“I’ve got a good feeling. From a military view, they don’t have a chance,” he said.
Bayer has said it may pursue legal action against Canada for patent infringement.
Canadian officials said one reason they went to another drugmaker was that they had believed Bayer did not have the facilities to supply enough Cipro.
Bayer officials deny the allegation, saying its production levels have been adequate.