If you thought that bundle of classified cables oozing from WikiLeaks was confined to diplomatic foibles and heads of state, but had little to offer about the pharmaceutical world, well, guess what? One cable lists overseas pharma facilities that are considered vital to US national security.

How so? Losing these facilities “could critically impact the public health, economic security, and/or national and homeland security of the United States,” according to the Feb. 18, 2009, cable from the US Secretary of State to all diplomatic posts overseas (read it here). The list was part of an effort to catalog critical infrastructure and key resources as part of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan.

The cable mentions plants that produce insulin and vaccines to combat small pox, typhoid and foot and mouth disease, among others, that are located in across the globe - Europe, Latin America, Canada and Australia. Among the companies named: Baxter, GlaxoSmithKline, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi-Aventis, Genzyme, Novartis, IDT Biologika, Vetter Pharma, Roche, CSL Behring and Grifols, notes In-Pharma Technologist.