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Friend ––
Hospitals and health care systems in Michigan and across the nation have been impacted by drug shortages, and that problem is only continuing to grow. No one should have to worry about accessing critical drugs like cancer treatments or common over-the-counter medications, yet shortages are forcing health care providers to substitute less-effective medications or limit doses to treat patients.
Drug shortages have real life impacts on patients and health care providers, and Congress must do more to address the problem. We need to encourage more domestic and diversified production of important medications where possible, expand the number of suppliers of critical materials for drugs, and ensure the federal government has up-to-date information that will help them prevent shortages before they reach a crisis point.
As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I recently released a report that shows how these shortages affect patients’ health and safety and present a significant national security risk. I also held a hearing with health care and supply chain experts to discuss my report and highlight how drug shortages are impacting the health and safety of our communities.
Click here to watch more.
My report looked into the causes of drug shortages and what we can do to address this problem. Here are some of the report’s key findings and recommendations:
- Drug shortages can lead to treatment delays, medication errors, and have life threatening impacts on patients.
- Nearly 90% of FDA-registered manufacturing sites that produce ingredients to make generic drugs are located overseas. If the U.S. is unable to get the ingredients and raw materials needed to make these medications from these countries it could result in catastrophic consequences for patients.
- We must invest in domestic advanced manufacturing capabilities for generic drug products that are regularly in shortage to reduce our dependence on foreign and geographically concentrated sources and suppliers.
- The federal government and drug companies lack full visibility into where key ingredients for generic drugs are coming from. We must take steps to collect data on the supply chain to ensure agencies are not in the dark and can predict and work to prevent shortages.
Click here to read the full report.
My report and hearing showed that while drug shortages impact every part of our health care system – they tend to hit smaller, rural hospitals and health care providers the hardest because they often lack the resources needed to monitor and find alternative drug supplies. Shortages are made worse by our over-dependence on foreign suppliers, mostly in India and China, for the key raw materials that make many medications, as well as the limited number and clustered locations of facilities both in the U.S. and overseas that produce critical drugs. If one of these countries stops exporting a certain drug or a facility closes, it could lead to devastating shortages.
I’ll continue working toward bipartisan solutions that will help us take action to address this threat and protect the health and safety of Michiganders.
Thanks for reading,
Gary Peters
United States Senator for Michigan
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