The White House, along with the FDA and HHS, released a series of policy recommendations June 8 that the country will take to address vulnerabilities in the pharmaceutical supply chain.
The recommendations, which have been accepted by President Joe Biden, are the result of an executive order the president signed in February to focus on securing the country's critical supply chains.
Under the plan, HHS will make an initial commitment of roughly $60 million from the American Rescue Plan to develop technologies to increase domestic manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Increased domestic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients will help reduce the country's reliance on global supply chains for medications that are in shortage, particularly during times of increased public health need, HHS said in a news release.
The report's recommendations center on four pillars:
- Boosting local production and fostering international cooperation
- Promoting research and development that establishes innovative manufacturing processes and production technologies to strengthen supply chain resilience
- Creating robust quality management to ensure consistent and reliable drug manufacturing and quality performance
- Leveraging data to improve supply chain resilience
"Pharmaceutical supply chains are essential for the national and health security and economic prosperity of the United States, yet the COVID-19 pandemic revealed just how vulnerable the supply chain is in this country. Now is the right time to take action to keep the U.S. drug supply chain secure and resilient," acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, MD, said in the news release.
Read HHS' full news release here.