Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra has announced an initiative to enhance the domestic supply chain for essential medicines and medical countermeasures as part of the inaugural meeting of the White House Council on Supply Chain Resilience. This move comes as part of a concerted effort by the U.S. government to ensure a stable supply of vital medical supplies and reduce dependency on foreign sources.
The new strategy laid out by HHS involves various measures aimed at bolstering domestic production. According to a news release, the White House will utilize the Defense Production Act to spur domestic manufacturing of medicine deemed to be critical, along with efforts to strengthen the resilience of critical medical product and food supply chains, and to address related shortages.
Securing local control over supply chain forms a core element in ensuring constant availability of necessary resources, according to Secretary Becerra. Becerra said the measure would ensure Americans always have the essential medicines and other critical medical products they need and to accomplish the task they must have more control over the supply chain.
Becerra further elaborated on their approach towards addressing potential disruptions in supply chains. "In addition to having the necessary data and insights for visibility into supply chain disruptions, we need to be better positioned to help our partners in the private sector mitigate supply chain disruptions," said Becerra. "The actions we have taken today, and will continue to take, accomplish these goals."
Moreover, this initiative is backed by substantial financial commitments directed towards domestic production capabilities. According to the media release, a $35 million investment will go towards the domestic production of key starting materials for sterile injectable medicines that will position the country to respond and recover from health emergencies, future pandemics and biological threats.
This endeavor is a collaborative effort involving multiple government entities tasked with ensuring public health safety. The effort will be spearheaded by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The government entities will conduct assessments of the U.S. Public Health Industrial Base supply chain and then provide a blueprint to develop supplies and devices for public health emergencies.
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell also emphasized the significance of this initiative in strengthening public health emergency responses. "The actions announced today will give ASPR additional flexibility to promote the onshoring of essential manufacturing capabilities through the DPA, which will further strengthen our response to public health emergencies," said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell. "Our partnership with the Department of Commerce is an important extension of this work which will highlight potential gaps in the supply chain of raw materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and essential medicines."
