Listen to “How to Protect Our Prescription Drug Supply Chain” on Spreaker.
There’s no crisis of prescription drug availability right now as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, but as supply chains suffer some disruptions and China threatens to withhold medications produced there by U.S. pharmaceuticals, how can we make sure there’s never a problem?
Former FDA Associate Commissioner Peter Pitts says there is a way to induce much more domestic production of prescription drugs. In this interview with Greg Corombos, Pitts explains what the federal government would need to do to give drug makers the incentive to move production back home and the major infrastructure investment pharmaceuticals would need to make.
But Pitts also points out that domestic production is more expensive, so how does the tension between price and availability of drugs play out?
Pitts walks us through these key issues and explains the role of the FDA during the current crisis and what it ought to be doing once it is over.
