Suppose you are on a drug that basically extends your life. This means that without it you are at high risk of heart attack, blood clot, an immune system out of control, diabetes or other any other condition that will spin you out of control if you do not get the medication/treatments that you have been reliant on. Others too need drugs to help them function, they are unlikely to die but they are nowhere near 100%.
In a wartime situation you can't depend on any shipments from anywhere. Trade might be too difficult even if countries were willing to send such supplies. If the enemy is your old supplier, then forget it. So the USA needs to increase manufacturing not just for making the drugs but also the raw materials that go into them. To me this is a no brainer.
I will offer a second reason to manufacture in the USA. While generics are touted as being safe as the name brand drug the FDA allows 20% variance in the active ingredient. Most only vary 3% or so, but some drugs that need tighter tolerances to the targeted dose can vary more. Testing too on the absorption rates and other characteristics are not always performed on generics and their inactive ingredients or fillers can cause side effects. Here is a Harvard Study that shows higher ER visits from generics versus name brand drugs.
Do generic drugs compromise on quality? - Harvard Health
Most generics come from China and India. Not only is the tap water questionable, but so are other raw materials, hygiene and overall factory cleanliness and quality. Yes, the USA can also have shoddy workmanship, but we could expect better overall quality because the FDA is better than many other exporting nations safety agencies. Here is a quote from the FDA.
"On April 24, 2008, during Senate hearings on the heparin fiasco, Janet Woodcock, MD, the Director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), testified before the Senate Education, Labor, Health, and Pensions Committee, and stated, "We cannot be the quality-control unit for the world." She also said that the increasingly large number of pharmaceutical ingredients manufactured abroad makes it nearly impossible for the agency to ensure the safety of all drugs sold in the United States."
FDA Inspection of Foreign Drug Companies
So let's make sure on drugs in the USA. Bring the jobs back and help our security and health. US productivity would be far higher and I don't think that manufacturing drugs consume huge amounts of labor but if prices increased slightly on generics then we all should be glad to accept them if we assume our quality and more secure supply can improve.
