During the 2001 anthrax scare, the US government threated to disregard Bayer’s patent of
ciprofloxacin, the most effective drug to fight anthrax, and license the production of the
drug to American drug companies to stockpile the drug in case of an anthrax epidemic.
While the policy would lower costs to the US government of stockpiling the drug, it
would also have other costs. What are some of those costs?