OPINION:
Jon Toomey is right: Medicine security is national security (“America’s generic drug crisis demands investment, not dependence,” Web, April 3). But undermining critical supply chains with trusted allies would make America weaker, not safer. Patients cannot afford to be cut off from U.S. allies. India alone supplies nearly half of America’s generic medicines, saving us $219 billion annually.
The U.S. needs a coordinated medicine security strategy that strengthens our supply chains with partners such as India, stockpiles essential medicines for emergencies and tackles market conditions disrupting our health care system. No single country can produce all the key starting materials or active ingredients for essential medicines.
Short-circuiting the building process for an entirely American supply chain jeopardizes health security (not to mention that there can be no robust American generics industry until the practices of pharmaceutical benefit managers and group purchasing organizations are addressed). PBMs steer patients away from generics and toward more expensive medicines, while GPOs create deflationary pressures on generics and drive them out of the market, causing shortages.
As Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said recently: “America first doesn’t mean America alone.” Congress and the Trump administration should strive to “do no harm” in building a resilient medicine supply chain. Continued partnership with India will be key.
KATHLEEN JAEGER
Great Falls, Virginia
Please read our comment policy before commenting.