Pharma Balks at Congressional Plans for Domestic Drug Manufacturing

Pharma is pushing back against a slew of proposals by lawmakers to do away with U.S. reliance on foreign drug manufacturing.

COVID-19 has brought the nation’s dependence on manufacturing in China and elsewhere into sharp focus, and at least 10 bills have been introduced during the pandemic that look to make the U.S. more self-sufficient.

But pharma groups have been lobbying hard against the various proposals.

Completely basing manufacturing in the U.S. could cause serious supply disruptions with potentially worldwide impact, Nicole Longo, PhRMA’s director of public affairs said, recommending that lawmakers instead “take a long-term more holistic look” at the global drug supply chain “before jumping to rash proposals” that could lead to significant disruptions in the U.S. drug supply.

Among the proposals under consideration: Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Rep. Buddy Carter (D-Ga.) introduced a bill (H.R. 6930) last week designed to encourage U.S. companies to manufacture drugs and APIs domestically by offering them a tax credit. The credit for firms that conduct their operations in certain lower-income areas of the U.S. is meant to “significantly reduce the advantage that foreign countries provide and encourage companies to maintain, expand or relocate their production activities back to the U.S.”

Reps. Susan Brooks (R-Ind.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) cosponsored a bipartisan bill (H.R. 6670) at the beginning of the month that would assemble a committee of experts to analyze how the country sources and manufactures drugs and submit recommendations to Congress within 90 days.

“Our nation’s overreliance on the foreign production of critical drugs and their ingredients has led to drug shortages and subpar quality,” said Eshoo. “The U.S. must have a national strategy to eliminate foreign dependence for critical drugs.”

In March, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) introduced legislation (S.3537 and H.R. 6482) that would sever the U.S.-China drug manufacturing relationship. Specifically, the bill contains measures to ban pharmaceutical purchases from China, track APIs through an FDA registry, require a country of origin label for all imported drugs and promote domestic manufacturing through financial rewards. The two lawmakers said the strategy’s main restrictions would not go into effect until 2022 and would have no impact on the pandemic.

“The Chinese Communist Party's outrageous threats to withhold lifesaving drugs from the U.S. endangers public health and should open our eyes to our dangerous over-reliance on China in our medical supply chain," said Gallagher, who called the situation “a national security imperative.” — James Miessler