Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) leads a U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging focusing on ongoing efforts to examine America’s over-reliance on foreign-made generic drugs by emphasizing how lawmakers can address vulnerabilities in America’s pharmaceutical supply chain.
“We exposed not only the threat posed by poor quality generic drugs that can hurt or even kill American seniors, but also how dependent the United States is on dangerous supply chains that threaten shortages, keeping life-saving drugs from getting to those who need them,” Sen. Scott said.
“The terrifying reality we face is that our nation is completely beholden to Communist China and India for the vast majority of our generic drugs and their ingredients,” he added.
The hearing is a part of a movement by the Senate committee to protect vulnerable Americans by moving pharmaceutical manufacturing to the U.S. and eliminating weaknesses in the current drug supply system, along with dangerous loopholes that compromise drug safety and accessibility.
“We also learned in our last hearing that if Communist China or India shut off the flow of these essential drugs, the U.S. would only have months of prescription drug supply, forcing us to begin rationing drugs and turning away all but the most in need within a matter of weeks!” the Senator emphasized.
Scott then welcomed health experts Tony Sardella, Tony Paquin, and Andrew Rechenberg to testify on potential avenues to bolster domestic generic drug manufacturing, enhance transparency throughout the supply chain, mandate clear country-of-origin labeling, and close harmful loopholes.
“A study from one of our witnesses, Mr. Tony Sardella, found that 83% of the top 100 generic drugs consumed by U.S. citizens have no U.S.-based source of active drug Ingredients, and another 11% have only one domestic source of active drug ingredients,” Scott stated.
“This is a national security and a public health issue for seniors and all Americans. I look forward to this discussion with our witnesses on how we can make sure Americans never have to worry about missing a dose of their medication or the quality of drugs in their medicine cabinet,” he concluded.
