U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) joined a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers in calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to address issues with the Strategic National Stockpile, domestic medical supply chain manufacturing and national security.
“We simply cannot outsource our public safety and national security to foreign nations,” Rep. Fitzpatrick said. “We must reconstitute our health care and public safety supply chain back to the United States.”
The congressman noted that medical products, protective equipment, pharmaceuticals, emergency response equipment, and other critical items and materials needed to respond to a national emergency “must be produced domestically for domestic consumption, especially during a critical, time-sensitive crisis.”
Rep. Fitzpatrick and four other congressmen, including U.S. Rep. David Trone (D-MD), requested that HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra leverage new technologies to help domestically source active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for the Strategic National Stockpile inventory.
“Currently, many medical drug manufacturers lack plans to assess and address vulnerabilities in their manufacturing supply chain, putting them and American patients at risk for drug supply disruptions,” the members wrote in a July 23 letter sent to Secretary Becerra.
The centralization of the global supply for essential ingredients for drugs in China and India makes it vulnerable to interruption, they wrote, adding that the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response should support domestic manufacturing by giving preference to domestically sourced APIs for any pharmaceutical products purchased for the stockpile.
“By giving the [Strategic National Stockpile] purchasing preference to domestically sourced APIs,” wrote Rep. Fitzpatrick and his colleagues, “we can accelerate this transition and ensure we have adequate supplies of essential medicines.”
In May, Rep. Fitzpatrick also sponsored the bipartisan Made in America Emergency Preparedness Act, H.R. 3584, with U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) to require the creation of the National Commission on United States Preparedness for National Emergencies, which would prepare the nation for future national emergencies. The measure remains under consideration in several committees.