Making medicine in America

I wanted to tell you about a bill that would target an issue that Michiganders have been struggling with for far too long: access to life-saving prescription drugs. The American Made Pharmaceuticals Act, which I introduced earlier this month, would encourage U.S. manufacturing of critical pharmaceuticals and reduce dependence on foreign sources.

If COVID taught us anything, it opened our eyes to the consequences of an outsourced pharmaceutical supply chain. When we are dependent on others for absolutely critical supplies like life-saving prescription drugs, we leave patients without vital treatments.

Specifically, the American Made Pharmaceuticals Act would:

• Establish a program at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to test providing preferential treatment for U.S.-manufactured medicines.
• Require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to consider ways to give U.S.-manufactured drugs preference.
• Require eligible pharmaceutical companies to provide transparency on manufacturing locations, maintain appropriate inventory and emergency reserves, and have an action plan for when links in the supply chain break down.
• Direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit an annual report to Congress on activities under the program as well as recommendations for any legislative and administrative actions.

This is an issue I’ve been working on for several years. In 2022 I launched the bipartisan Domestic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Caucus, which works to address drug shortages and encourage domestic production of essential medicines; and my Strengthening America’s Strategic National Stockpile Act was signed into law, improving the U.S. stockpile of critical medical supplies and expanding domestic manufacturing of those supplies. Last summer, I introduced the Ensuring Access to Lifesaving Drugs Act, which would expand the supply of critical drugs during shortages.

It is vital that we become less dependent on other countries, bring jobs back to places like Michigan, and help protect patients from drug shortages.

-Rep. Elissa Slotkin