New “Buy American” requirements on medicines would limit patient access to affordable medicines and increase the risk of drug shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic
ASPIRE has joined 60 plus organizations by co-signing a letter from Association of Accessible Medications (AAM).
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is disrupting everyday life around the world and imposing unprecedented stress on our health care system. President Trump’s trade advisor has been advocating that the president sign an Executive Order that would mandate or encourage that the US government only purchase drugs whose active pharmaceutical ingredients are made in the US with a similar rule for medical devices. Such a move right now, which could come as early as this week, would destabilize the pharmaceutical supply chain at the worst possible moment for patients and the providers caring for them.
Alliance for Accessible Medications has drafted a letter to President Trump requesting that he not take any action that would destabilize the health care supply chain at this sensitive time. Nearly 80 members of the House signed a bipartisan letter raising concerns about how the “Buy American” order could impact personal protective equipment.
Generic medicines account for 90% of all prescriptions filled. Developers of generic and biosimilar medicines support diversification of the pharmaceutical supply chain and incentives to increase manufacturing in the United States but we must not hinder our response to the COVID-19 emergency.
60 percent of all generic finished dosage form (FDF) facilities and 87 percent of all generic active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) facilities are currently located outside of the United States. Shifting the manufacturing and production of generic medicines and API to the United States as part of the diversification of the supply chain is a desirable long-term goal, but it is simply not feasible in the short-term and would negatively impact patient access to low-cost generics.
New requirements to apply “Buy America” provisions to the manufacturing and production of generic medicines and API would thus limit patient access to essential medicines, increase the risk of shortages and increase the cost of prescription drugs.
- Limits Patient Access to Medicine
- Increases the Risk of Shortages
- Increases the Cost of Medicine
“Buy American” One Pager from AAM
CURRENT SIGNATORIES AS OF 3/25:
- 60 Plus Association
- Advocacy & Awareness for Immune Disorders Association
- Allergy & Asthma Network
- Alliance to Solve PANS & Immune-Related Encephalopathies
- American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association
- American Behcet’s Disease Association
- Association for Accessible Medicines
- Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance, Inc.
- Beyond Celiac
- Black Women’s Health Imperative
- Center for Freedom and Prosperity
- Consumer Healthcare Products Association
- Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
- Dysautonomia International
- FreedomWorks
- GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer
- Healthcare Distribution Alliance
- Innovative Defense Foundation
- International Foundation for Autoimmune & Autoinflammatory Arthritis
- International Pemphigus Pemphigoid Foundation
- Lupus and Allied Diseases Association, Inc.
- Lupus Foundation of America
- Mental Health America
- Myasthenia Gravis Foundation of America
- National Alopecia Areata Foundation
- National Consumers League
- National Eczema Association
- National Health Council
- National Taxpayers Union
- Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease
- PhRMA
- Sjögren’s Foundation
- Spina Bifida Association
- Taxpayers Protection Alliance
- USP
- Vitiligo Support International
Gabriella True
