October 13, 2001 THE INTERNET Anthrax News Brings a Boom for Marketing By DIANA B. HENRIQUES nthrax news is creating a marketing opportunity on the Internet. Online advertisements promoting the availability of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin had been proliferating on the Internet since the first news of anthrax cases in Florida last week. The antibiotic, which is commonly called Cipro, is used to treat inhaled anthrax. But that buying activity went into overdrive yesterday. At one point, anyone who typed either "anthrax" or "Cipro" into the popular Google.com search engine would encounter as many as eight boxed notices with labels like "anthrax prevention" or "Stockpile Cipro."

Some had links to well-established online pharmacy sites, while others were names of the moment, including cipro-for-less.com. One e-mail message, received at The New York Times (news/quote) in midafternoon yesterday, had the headline "Anthrax Alert: Get Cipro NOW! Don't Delay!" A reply to the message was returned as undeliverable. The Web site that was linked to the e- mail is registered to an Atlanta company with a nonworking telephone number. And the "Cipro" that the site offered — for $4.99 a tablet — was described elsewhere on the site as "an appetite suppressant" used for "the short-term management of obesity."

[EdNote: The new Secretary of Human Services has cut a deal with pharmaceuticals to get the drugs of a little under a dollar per pill. It was said that they could buy the same pills in generic form in India for a penny a piece. That was the threat to the drug companies.[C-Span]]

On one Internet pharmacy site, HealthMeds.com, the editors posted a message saying that in the face of vociferous customer complaints they were backing off an earlier warning against the self-prescribed use of the antibiotic. Get Stock Quotes Look Up Symbols Portfolio | Company Research U.S. Markets | Int. Markets Mutual Funds | Bank Rates Commodities Currencies "Yes, you have the right to bear arms, buy gas masks and stock up on all the food and water you possibly can," the editors wrote. "You also have the right to access medications and have the absolute right to protect you and your family."