Monday, March 2, 2020

The Virus and the Supply Chain

COVID-19 is more likely to harm Americans indirectly because the U.S. is increasingly reliant on drugs either directly sourced from China or made from intermediate chemicals called Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, or their chemical precursors, manufactured in China.

U.S. producers source 80 percent of their APIs overseas, primarily from China; China is also the chief supplier of APIs for producers in other countries.

Even India, the world's largest generics producer, relies on China for 80 percent of the APIs it uses in drug production.

Like penicillin, are no longer made here; China controls worldwide penicillin production.

A large amount of the personal protective equipment-surgical gowns, gloves, masks and respirator protective devices-used to stop the spread of coronavirus and other infectious diseases are manufactured in China.

In 2008, a contaminated Chinese API used to make the blood-thinner Heparin led to 81 deaths in the U.S. Now, due to limitations on travel to China because of the coronavirus, the FDA has suspended inspections of Chinese drug and device factories.

The time has come for the U.S. to compile a list of brand-name and generic drugs exclusively produced in China but critical to the health and safety of Americans-and take action to ensure that these products get produced in the U.S. once again.

https://www.city-journal.org/coronavirus-pharmaceuticals-production

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