cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/658769

It is doubtful that this legislation will make it all the way to law given the current state of the US Congress, but it highlighted an issue that I was unaware of.

If you go to the FDA database of drug shortages, there are currently 138 drugs listed as “Currently in Shortage.” The article points out that this list has been growing over the past decade and is not transitory effects of the pandemic lingering in the medical supply chain.

Looking at the list, I understand why I was not aware of this issue as pretty much all the medicines I saw scrolling through the list are small molecule therapeutics whereas I work in biologics and gene therapies (“mab” is not found in any of the medicine names for example). The small molecule market, in general, is mature enough and tied close enough to the general-purpose chemical industry, that I am not surprised medicines are primarily manufactured overseas as that industry, like most others, has globalized to take advantage of cheap labor, lax regulations, or both.

This legislation simply directs the DHS, DOD, and DHHS to perform a risk assessment on the current state of the pharmaceutical supply chain. With bipartisan cosponsors and the current rhetoric with regard to China and onshoring or friendshoring US goods, this might just find enough political space to make it through.