NEWS: Sens. Schiff, Scott Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Address U.S. Dependency on China for Pharmaceutical Products

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rick Scott (F-Fla.), Chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, introduced new bipartisan legislation, the American Pharmaceutical Security Act, to direct the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to produce a report to Congress with recommendations on how the agency could use its coverage and reimbursement authorities to reduce U.S. dependency on China and other foreign manufacturers for pharmaceuticals.

"The United States' overreliance on China for the ingredients in many pharmaceuticals is a dangerous national security threat. The federal government must use all of the tools at our disposal to address this vulnerability to the health and welfare of the American people. This bipartisan legislation will help us strengthen our supply chains, so the lives of our citizens are not dependent on the good graces of nations that don't have our best interests at heart," said Senator Schiff.

"Communist China has chosen to be our enemy and will do everything in their power to destroy our way of life. They are sending fentanyl to kill our kids and have too much influence over our pharmaceutical supply chain. Meanwhile, Americans are in the dark about what's actually in Chinese-manufactured generic drugs. That's why I'm glad to help lead this bipartisan legislation with Sen. Schiff. We should be onshoring production of these medications to protect Americans, create jobs here, and keep Xi and his CCP thugs from leveraging the drug supply our seniors and military rely on," said Senator Scott.

China currently controls massive swaths of the pharmaceutical supply chain that the United States depends on for the manufacturing of pharmaceutical drugs, including active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and key starting materials (KSMs). Experts estimate that nearly 700 essential medications approved for use in the U.S. depend on at least one API produced solely in China. The U.S. also relies heavily on Chinese KSMs for access to antibiotics, seizure medications, cancer drugs, and HIV treatment. For example, of the U.S. market, China controls the raw or key starting materials for 94 percent of the antibiotic, amoxicillin.

As a foreign adversary, China's control over the generic medication market is a serious and mounting threat to U.S. national security. Congress must secure our pharmaceutical supply chain and eliminate the risk that adversaries could use to exploit and weaponize their control over generic medications.

To address this vulnerability, the American Pharmaceutical Security Act, would specifically:

• Direct CMS to provide a report to Congress with recommendations on how the agency could use its coverage and reimbursement authorities to reduce U.S. dependency on foreign manufacturers for active pharmaceutical supplies and key starting materials.
• As the largest payor of generics medications in the United States, these recommendations will inform how the federal government can use its purchasing power such as incentivizing companies through payment policiesto increase manufacturing in the U.S. to help secure the U.S. supply chain.

The full text of the legislation is available here.

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