Anthrax does not affect the brain, but panic about the disease may well lead to seizures—of drug patents, at any rate. As America's anthrax scare spreads, its government wants to stockpile millions of tablets of Cipro, an antibiotic used to fight one of the nastier forms of the disease. The Department of Health has successfully negotiated with Bayer, the German patent-holder, for a roughly half-price discount on an order of loom pills. Its chief bargaining chip has been a provision in American law that allows the government to turn to other manufacturers to produce a drug for its needs, as long as it compensates the patent holder.
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