Discussion of the case
The case study is about the major incidents in the United States of America in October 2001. The country experienced a series of physical and biological terrorism acts. This created fear and tension among the citizens as they sought protection from the terrorism activities. The physical attack involved destruction of property and death of people due to the bombing by the Al Qaeda group. The biological terrorism involves an outbreak of anthrax disease in the United States. The two terrorism activities took place in the month of September and October in 2001. There was an attack by the Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda. The terrorists hijacked 4 U.S commercial Airliners which they used to detonate the World Trade Center in New York. At the same time, they destroyed the Pentagon Building in Washington, D.C. The awful act left more than 3000 citizens dead and a large number of casualties. The terrorism act happened on 11th September 2011.
Biological terrorism involved an outbreak of anthrax in the United States. The firs incidence of the disease was reported on 5th October 2001. The incubation period for anthrax is between 6-45 days. Initially, the United States Federal Government did not link the outbreak to incidences of bio-terrorism. According to the Federal Government, the outbreak was an act of nature. The first victim died after diagnosis. The second case involved a fellow employee of the first victim. The employees were working at American Media. It was until the second instance that the government officials thought the outbreak was bio-terrorism. The terrorists targeted media houses, postal service facilities and state offices. Infection cases were being reported from the NBC Media House. The majority of the victims were from the media house. The terrorists also targeted the Majority Leader in the Office of the Senate, Tom Daschle. There were cases reported by employees working in the mail facilities.
Anthrax refers to an acute infectious disease which is caused by the spore forming bacteria referred to as Bacillus anthraces. Anthrax virus can be transmitted through inhalation, ingestion or skin contact with an infected person. Inhalation is the most fatal form of transmission than the other two methods of transmission. There are three main types of anthrax. Cutaneous anthrax is a skin infection which leads to the swelling of the lymph nodes in the adjacent area of infection. The symptoms of the inhalation type of anthrax include severe respiratory problems. Other symptoms resemble those of the common cold. Intestinal type of anthrax results from the consumption of contaminated meat. The symptoms of intestinal anthrax include loss of appetite, vomiting, severe diarrhea, acute inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and abdominal pains.
Ciprofloxacin, simply known as Cipro, was the only authorized medication for the treatment of anthrax in the United States by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Bayer AG, an international health care and chemical company, was the only producer of Cipro in 2001. The company received very much attention after the outbreak of the viral disease. The government and the people looked upon the company for production of enough medication. There was high demand for the drug for protection purposes. However, the Bayer AG was not prepared to handle the sensitive information. The ability of the company to produce enough drugs for the whole country became questionable. Consumers, government official and generic pharmaceutical manufacturers had doubts on the ability of Bayer AG to meet the high demand for drugs. The pricing strategy of Cipro drugs was questionable. There was a recommendation that the government to start manufacturing the drug in order to charge a low price.
There was no stock of Cipro on 12th October. The consumers complained of the lack of drugs in the pharmaceuticals. The high demand for the drugs exceeded the production capacity of Bayer AG. There was a threat by the government to break Bayer’s patent on the drug. They argued that the patent rights be broken in order to allow other pharmaceutical companies to manufacture the drug. The aim was to increase the supply of the drugs in the market in order to meet the high demand. Previously, Bayer AG had lost patent rights on several types of its drugs. Some of these drugs include Aspirin which is known for the treatment of headaches and prevention of heart diseases, Baycol which helps in the reduction of human cholesterol levels, Kogenate for the treatment of hemophilia patients and Phenylpropanolamine which is used for weight reduction.
Questions from the case study and solutions
The main question would be to investigate whether the bio-terrorism activities and the physical terrorism were related. The time span in which the two events took place will be important in answering the questions. According to the case study, the two types of terrorism happened almost the same time. The bombing in the United States occurred on 11th September 2011. Cases of anthrax outbreak were first reported on 5th October 2011. There is a high probability that the incidents were related. The time span in which the events occurred is almost the same. The Al Qaeda group was responsible for the 11th September attack. Therefore, it will be in order to conclude that the group was also responsible for the anthrax outbreak.
Why did Bayer AG officials decided to remain silent about the ability of the company to produce Cipro? From the case study, the company officials kept a low profile in dealing with the highly sensitive situation. Their reason for keeping the low profile was the fear of public perception. In handling the question, it will be important to analyze the integrity of the management. It would be expected that the company officials to respond as fast as possible to the anthrax outbreak. The integrity of the company officials remains questionable. However, the anthrax outbreak was sudden. The company was not prepared to handle the high demand for the drug. The company officials should have addressed the issue by seeking assistance from other drug manufacturing pharmaceutical companies rather than keeping the low profile.
Why were the Cipro patents exclusive only to Bayer AG Company? The company had the exclusive rights of producing the drug since 1981. The pricing of Cipro was questioned by the Health and Human Services Secretary, Tommy Thompson. The government ought to have been the producer of Cipro. The Company was charging exorbitant prices for the drug which was unacceptable. Other pharmaceuticals were not allowed to produce a generic version of Cipro drug. The relationship between the state officials and Bayer AG needs to be investigated in order to answer the question. There seems to be a conflict of interest between the state or government officials and management of the company. The state officials contributed significantly to the retention of the exclusive rights of the copra producer by Bayer AG Company.
