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The coronavirus has exposed the risks of heavy reliance on foreign countries for medicines and medical supplies, with China and other countries suspending exports of personal protective equipment and other items. The result of inaction has been headlines about drug shortages of life-saving drugs such as chemotherapy drugs and the ever-increasing prices of generic drugs such as amoxicillin.
All Americans, not just health care workers, should share the same grave concerns expressed by former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley during the recent presidential primary debates. For decades, administrations of both parties have stood idly by as U.S. drug manufacturing has moved overseas, primarily to China and India.
Ms. Haley is right when she says, “We need to focus on the companies that produce in the United States and support the companies that produce in the United States, not the companies that are supporting China.”
Since 2016, U.S. pharmaceutical imports from China have increased by 655%. (Reuters/Damir Sagori)
It is a national security and public health crisis that nearly 90% of the chemical raw materials needed to manufacture antibiotics and other medicines are sourced from China. And it’s not just the ingredients. Our government also buys finished products from China.
Imminent threat from China choking our medicines
If our adversaries have the ability to deliver contaminated or ineffective products, even if they do, our military and our entire population are at risk. Until we control our pharmaceutical supply chains, we are at risk.
In 2015, Chinese government announced A 10-year plan to control 10 high-tech industries, especially geopolitically important areas such as biomedicine. They allocated huge subsidies to these industries and implemented policies that favored domestic companies while punishing foreign competition. Since 2016, U.S. pharmaceutical imports from China have increased by 655%. When it comes to antibiotics, this dependence is the worst.
Pharmaceutical Factory Antibiotics of Bristol, Tenn., is the only remaining manufacturer in America that produces finished doses of amoxicillin. At its peak, the factory employed more than 500 American workers and produced “billions” of pills, but like many American drug manufacturing plants, it was more than 30 years old. have faced challenges in the.
While the federal government supports Chinese manufacturers, factories like those in Tennessee are ignored. Opportunities to strengthen domestic supply chains are being missed. This is in stark contrast to governments around the world, including Austria and France, which have pledged $53 million and $168 million to support domestic antibiotic projects.
If the federal government directed these contracts to domestic companies, they would be able to expand their operations, create stable jobs, and improve national security.
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China aims to gain dominance in these industries by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and our country’s vulnerability is likely to worsen further. With a medical industry foundation built on life support, we are already facing shortages of key medicines and the costly disruptions that inevitably occur when relying on suppliers like China. .
As China continues to attack one of our nation’s most important industries, federal leaders must make a choice. Buying from an American manufacturer should be the easy part of this challenge. Politicians love to tell pro-American stories during election campaigns because voters are overwhelmingly aware of why it matters.
We must deliver on these campaign promises. When the stakes are this high, the federal government can do only the bare minimum.
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President Biden did not create this problem, but he has an opportunity to do something about it. All Americans benefit when critical medicines and their ingredients are manufactured in America. This bipartisan issue deserves action now, before another crisis occurs and the most vulnerable Americans suffer from a shortage of this life-saving drug.
It is time to prioritize domestic drug manufacturing to strengthen national and public health security.
Click here to read more from Marion Mass
