Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Kodak Soars After Government Loan To End China Medical Supply Chain Reliance

In an apparent retaliation over rising rhetoric over the "China Virus" in April, American firms producing medical goods in China were slapped with new export restrictions, stranding much of the supplies in warehouses across the country.

This move highlighted to many just how precarious the US medical supply chain was, and more critically, how dependent on new 'Enemy #1' China the American healthcare system was.

Gibson cites medical newsletters giving the estimate that today some 80% of all pharmaceutical active ingredients in the USA are made in China.

The made in China drugs today include most antibiotics, birth control pills, blood pressure medicines such as valsartan, blood thinners such as heparin, and various cancer drugs.

The Trump administration has begun to do something about this over-reliance with today's first of its kind loan "To help expedite domestic production of drugs that can treat a variety of medical conditions and loosen the U.S. reliance on foreign sources."

Somewhat forgotten film-maker Eastman Kodak received a $765 million U.S. government loan under the Defense Production Act to help produce ingredients for drugs.

For the US, the benefit of providing the loan to Kodak is to reduce reliance on other countries, particularly China, for drugs, DFC head Adam Boehler said.

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