{"id":939,"date":"2019-11-26T10:35:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T18:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/?p=939"},"modified":"2019-11-26T10:35:23","modified_gmt":"2019-11-26T18:35:23","slug":"china-rx-exposes-risks-of-dependence-on-china-for-medicines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/national-security\/china-rx-exposes-risks-of-dependence-on-china-for-medicines\/","title":{"rendered":"China RX Exposes Risks of Dependence on China for Medicines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After\nher presentation at the Made in America trade show last month, I met Rosemary\nGibson, co-author with Janardan Prasad Singh of <em>China RX<\/em>, published in\n2018. <em>China RX<\/em> is an expose of the pharmaceutical industry just as <em>Death\nby China<\/em> by Greg Autry and Peter Navarro was an expose of the general\nmanufacturing industry. <em>China RX<\/em> describes how the pharmaceutical\nindustry has transferred the manufacturing of generic drugs to China, which has\nresulted in great risk to the health of Americans as well as a substantial risk\nto our national security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If\nyou take prescription drugs, over-the-counter medication, or vitamins, then\nthis book is a must read for you. I was horrified to learn that both of my\nblood pressure medications (Amlodipine and Lisinopril) are produced in China.\nWould you believe that 80% of all ingredients of pharmaceuticals and 100% of\nascorbic acid are now made in China according to Ms. Gibson\u2019s presentation.&nbsp; We are talking about antibiotics, birth\ncontrol pills, antidepressants, pain relievers, not to mention drugs that treat\nHIV\/AIDS, cancer, bipolar disorder, and epilepsy. The list even includes\nantidotes to Ebola and Anthrax. Doesn\u2019t that frighten you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nauthors immediately capture your attention with the story of one of the victims\nof the contaminated heparin blood thinner scandal of 2008, Bob Allen, MD.&nbsp; Heparin is routinely given to patients to\nprevent the formation of blood clots in the blood vessels, but in his case, the\ncontaminated heparin caused blood clots leading to such a massive heart attack\nthat his heart completely failed, and they had to remove his heart and hook him\nup to an artificial heart until he could have a heart transplant. Unfortunately,\nthe heart transplant three months later didn\u2019t succeed, and Dr. Allen\u2019s death\nbecame another statistic of the 246 reports \u201cmade by healthcare professionals\nto the FDA about deaths associated with heparin from January 1, 2008 to May 31,\n2008.\u201d However, \u201cAs with all reports it receives, the agency makes no claim of\ncertainty that a death was caused by a drug.\u201d &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How\ndid the pharmaceutical industry start sourcing pharmaceuticals in China? In Part\nII, \u201cPivot East:&nbsp; How it Happened,\u201d the\nauthors document the complex chain of circumstances that led to China becoming\na major source of pharmaceuticals.&nbsp; The\nstory is similar to what was described by the authors of <em>Death by China<\/em>.\nOnce a patent for a drug ends, the manufacture of generic versions to that patented\ndrug begins. Competition reduces the price of the drug sometimes to the point\nthat the original manufacturer can no longer compete in producing the drug. In\norder to retain any market share, the original manufacturer may seek to reduce\nmanufacturing costs by subcontracting the manufacture of the drug to an outside\nsource.&nbsp; Due to lower costs of labor and\nother costs of doing business, China became the source of choice. This\noutsourcing benefitted American pharmaceutical companies to begin with, but in the\nlong-run has led to the decline of the American pharmaceutical industry\nresulting in closed plants and loss of jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nauthors point out that corporate America, and particularly multinational\ncorporations, focus on short-term, profit-driven outcomes whereas China focuses\non long-term outcomes. When American companies source production of goods or\npharmaceuticals, they are essentially transferring the technology and know-how\nto Chinese vendors. The outcome for such pharmaceutical companies as Baxter,\nGlaxoSmithKline, Johnson &amp; Johnson was that their Chinese vendors began to produce\ntheir own brands to compete with their former customers. As they have done with\nother manufactured goods, Chinese pharmaceutical companies began to flood the\nU. S. market with lower cost drugs driving prices down to the point that\nAmerican companies stopped producing certain medications. For example, the authors\nstate that the last plant making aspirin in the U. S. closed in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You\nmight be asking yourself, why doesn\u2019t the Federal Drug Administration put a\nstop to importing drugs and medicines produced in China? In Chapter 9, \u201cAre\nDrugs from China Safe,\u201d and Chapter 10, \u201cMade in China, Sue in America? Good\nLuck\u201d the authors outline the complex factors that prevent the FDA from\npreventing this from happening.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In\nchapter 11, \u201cThe Perfect Crime,\u201d the authors state: \u201cA poorly made or\ndeliberately contaminated prescription drug is a perfect crime. It is hard to\ndetect. Manufacturers keep the public in the dark. Regulators are tight-lipped\nso they don\u2019t offend manufacturers. Perpetrators are rarely caught. Most\nvictims are unaware.\u201d They outline how the underfunding of the FDA is a major\nsource of the problem. In fact, in 2014, there were \u201cOnly two full-time FDA\nstaff members are assigned to work in the agency\u2019s office in China to inspect\ndrug-manufacturing facilities\u2026\u201d&nbsp; While\nfunding has been increased since then, the authors conclude that \u201coutsourcing\nof America\u2019s medicine making is so complex it seems impossible to ensure that\nthey are safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chapter\n12, asks the question \u201cWhere does the Secretary of Defense procure his\nmedicine?&nbsp; You would hope that the answer\nwould be made in America. The authors write, \u201cThey must be made in the United\nStates or in an approved country according to the Federal Trade Agreement Act\n(TAA) of 1979. China is not a designated country. The TAA allows for exceptions\nwhen no other source is available\u2026\u201d Thus, when the authors contacted the\nPentagon to see which drugs were made in China due to lack of availability, \u201cA\nspokesperson replied that the department has had to buy thirty-one prescription\ndrugs from China.\u201d The same is true for the Veterans Administration that\nprovides healthcare for all of our veterans and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In\nchapter 13, The authors do an outstanding job of showing the danger to our\nnational security. by being dependent on China as a source of vital medicines\nand medical devices. They quote Dr. Goodman, dean of the Milken Business School\nof Public Health at George Washington University, saying, \u201cIt is a matter of\nnational security that we have the essential drugs we need\u2026I think it is time\nfor an examination, for some of the most critical drugs, and it\u2019s not just drugs,\nmedical supplies, masks are all made overseas. Do we need to think about having\nat least some resilient manufacturing capacity built in this country?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\nbook concludes with the authors\u2019 ten-step plan to bring the pharmaceutical\nindustry home. You need to read this for yourself.&nbsp; Relying on China for the bulk of our\nmedicines and medical supplies makes about as much sense to me as if we had\nbought these products from the Soviet Union during the Cold War. China has not\nbecome the more market-oriented or more rule of law country that some hoped\nwould happen. They have changed from producing commodities to going after\nadvanced technology production in pursuit of their plan to become the Super\nPower of the 21<sup>st<\/sup> Century. China could bring the U.S. to its knees\nand achieve their goal by simply disrupting the supply of critical drugs to\nAmerica. Medicines are essential to life. Think of what could happen if we had an\nepidemic, and China withheld the antidote. Congress and the White House must take\nthe steps the authors recommend to ensure the health of Americans and our\nnational security&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After her presentation at the Made in America trade show last month, I met Rosemary Gibson, co-author with Janardan Prasad Singh of China RX, published in 2018. China RX is an expose of the pharmaceutical industry just as Death by China by Greg Autry and Peter Navarro was an expose of the general manufacturing industry. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138,270,16],"tags":[271,272,273],"class_list":["post-939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-country-of-origin","category-made-in-america","category-national-security","tag-drugs-made-in-china","tag-made-in-america","tag-natinal-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":940,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}