US and Bayer settle anthrax row: “The two sides held talks on Tuesday amid

pressure from the US Congress to disregard

Bayer’s patent and buy ciprofloxacin, the

generic name for Cipro, cheaper elsewhere.

Late on Tuesday, US health secretary Tommy

Thompson said he had won agreement from

Bayer to slash the price of Cipro to below $1

per tablet.” BBC [This is a dramatic reversal of Thompson’s position of last week, in which he said, shamefully, that he would respect Bayer’s patent rights [read: right to profit from a potential health emergency at the expense of human lives]. Anything other than today’s decision, which presumably results from Thompson’s threats to Bayer that he would allow competing companies to produce cheaper, ‘generic’ ciprofloxacin if he got no concession, would have been a travesty… ]