Covid-19 Disrupts Supply Chains of Medicines Revealing Yet Another Threat to Our National Security

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes) outbreak and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19.

The severity of the Covid-19 outbreak is revealing yet another national security threat to those of which we today are well aware: the disruption of the supply chains of lifesaving drugs produced by Chinese companies. China is the primary source of crucial medical drugs. If this supply is in jeopardy, these drugs would stop reaching Americans.

In a February 24 letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri warned:

The novel coronavirus in China highlights severe, longstanding, and unresolved vulnerabilities in our capacity to produce lifesaving pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices… This is unacceptable… [The] recent outbreak of novel coronavirus has threatened the domestic supply of some 150 prescription drugs, including antibiotics, generics, and branded drugs. Some of these drugs do not have alternatives on the market. The degree to which some of our own manufacturers rely on China to produce lifesaving and life-sustaining medications is inexcusable. It is becoming clear to me that both oversight hearings and additional legislation are necessary to determine the extent of our reliance on Chinese production and protect our medical product supply chain. 

As reported yesterday by Thomas Sullivan, Editor of Policy and Medicine, similar congressional letters echoing Senator Hawley’s warning have been sent to the FDA by Senators Marco Rubio, Chris Murphy, Robert Menendez, and Representative Bill Pascrell. On February 27, the FDA stated that it is aware of a drug shortage related to an active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) manufacturer affected by the spreading virus. However, the FDA stated that it could not disclose which drug is in shortage because of confidentiality regulations.  Generally speaking, noted Sullivan, under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, once a drug shortage has been identified, it must go on a drug shortage list. However, the legislation allows the FDA to use its discretion in not making certain information public if the agency finds that disclosing the shortage may adversely affect public health.

Gerald F. Seib, writing in yesterday’s Washington Post “Capital Journal,” says that Covid-19 is altering our views and definitions of a national security threat.  He suggests that American companies need to diversify supply chains away from China. “For years, national security professionals have been telling one another that, in the  post-Cold War world, with a globally connected economy, nontraditional threats such as cyberattacks, biological warfare, and global epidemics should be getting more attention,” he writes.

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