Pentagon May End Funding for Troubled Anthrax Vaccine Supplier
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: At the Pentagon tonight, there are new concerns about the future for that anthrax vaccine. More than 2 million U.S. troops are scheduled to receive it, but as CNN's Jamie McIntyre now reports, some think the company cannot produce it.</s>JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sources tell CNN that after investing $143 million in this anthrax vaccine plant in Lansing, Michigan, the Pentagon is considering ending funding for the troubled company, a move that could drive Bioport into bankruptcy and set back by years Pentagon plans to vaccinate all 2.4 million active- duty and Reserve troops. The joint chiefs chairman and all the top war-fighting commanders have sent a memo to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, arguing the vaccine has to be the centerpiece of defense against the very real anthrax threat. With Iraq stockpiling Anthrax, now may not be the time to throw in the towel says Rudy DeLeon, who oversaw the program for the last administration.</s>RUDY DELEON, FORMER DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY: That would be easy, but there's no indication that Saddam Hussein is willing to throw in the towel. That's the problem, that's the dilemma for policy-makers.</s>MCINTYRE: Bioport has failed several FDA inspections and has been unable to earn certification for its vaccine. The Pentagon is down to 20,000 doses. Still, the company insists it can deliver given extra time and money.</s>KIM BRENNEN ROOT, BIOPORT CORPORATION: We have every commitment and every confidence that we are doing the right thing at the right time, having a strong relationship with the FDA to get this work done and get it done in a timely manner in 2002.</s>MCINTYRE: But sources say the new Pentagon acquisition chief has already concluded that Bioport is not likely to deliver an FDA- approved vaccine any time soon. Opponents of the vaccination program are also highly critical of Bioport.</s>JOHN MICHELS, ATTORNEY: I don't believe that we benefit any more by pumping money into a facility that has proven over and over again that it can't produce an appropriate product.</s>MCINTYRE (on camera): But some in the military say it would be penny-wise and pound-foolish. Even if it costs $100 million to bail out Bioport, they argue, it would be a fraction of the cost of missile defense to protect against a greater threat. Jamie McIntyre, CNN, the Pentagon.