Anthrax scares lift stocks

Reuters, Singapore

Anthrax scares rippling around the world have stirred buying in shares of Indian and Chinese drug firms, a Malaysian rubber glovemaker and even provided a boost to the Japanese producer of a microbe detector.

Anthrax antidotes are made by companies in Japan and India, but neither currently exports its products to the United States, which is scrambling to increase stockpiles of Cipro, the only approved oral treatment for the disease.

U.S. authorities have confirmed the presence of anthrax in Florida, New York, Nevada and in Washington, D.C., apparently delivered in letters through the mail and showing up as a white, powdery substance.

Demand for the drug skyrocketed after a Florida man died of anthrax and at least two others contracted it after handling mail.

Anthrax can be contracted by breathing in the spores of the bacteria or by contact with skin.

The need for careful handling of mail using medical gloves may have spurred interest in Latex, a Malaysian maker of disposable rubber gloves, whose shares surged nearly 13 percent by midday Wednesday.

German pharmaceutical company Bayer AG, currently the sole supplier of the drug to the U.S., has said it will boost production to 200 million tablets during the next three months.