[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 48 (Thursday, March 12, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1718]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                Securing America's Medicine Cabinet Act

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, on Tuesday, my colleague Senator 
Menendez and I introduced the Securing America's Medicine Cabinet--or 
SAM-C Act--to encourage an increase in American manufacturing of active 
pharmaceutical ingredients. These are termed APIs.
  We did this because China dominates this portion of the 
pharmaceutical manufacturing and given last night's news, I wanted to 
come back for a moment and highlight the important work that is being 
done in Tennessee and across the country to support our Nation's 
response to this coronavirus pandemic.
  Many Americans are very concerned, as they ought to be, about the 
availability of testing. As you all know, this virus is novel, which 
means we did not have test kits on the shelves before the outbreak 
started. The tests that we do have are not instant. When people think 
of an instant test, they think of a flu test or a pregnancy test. The 
test that is required for this virus is not an instant test, but this 
is in the works, and we do have top scientists at Vanderbilt University 
and other institutions who are developing faster techniques, but, for 
now, any test offered must be sent to a lab to be processed and 
analyzed. Although these tests provide important information, we must 
continue to focus on preventing transmission where we can.
  Some of the other work that is being done will help lead us to a 
faster path for antivirals and for vaccines. There is work in East 
Tennessee, right outside of Knoxville, at the Oak Ridge National Lab. 
Researchers have been using cutting-edge technology to identify drug 
candidates for targeting the novel coronavirus. They are using Summit, 
which is the world's fastest supercomputer. What they have done is feed 
in information about the coronaviruses, MRSA, SARS, and H1N1--the 
different viruses--and they crunched it down, and they have identified 
77 drug candidates for targeting the novel coronavirus that we know is 
COVID-19. Enabled by the screening of this database of more than 8,000 
known drug compounds, the researchers accomplished in days what would 
have taken years for scientists to do in the lab.
  In my remarks on the floor yesterday, I went into detail about the 
decades-long effort by scientists at Vanderbilt University's Denison 
Lab to study coronaviruses. I want to reiterate one important point--
that all across the country, scientists just like our friends at 
Vanderbilt are developing the antivirals and the vaccines that will 
eventually be used to combat multiple strains of virus, not just this 
particular outbreak but in addition to this outbreak.
  The United States is a leader in research and development of 
pharmaceuticals. Our labs, talent, and capacity for innovation are the 
envy of the world, but right now we depend heavily on Chinese and 
foreign companies to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients. 
When this happens, we lose control of our supply.
  So while we have all of this great work done in Oak Ridge, TN, and we 
have this wonderful work done in the Denison Lab at Vanderbilt, we need 
something like the SAM-C Act to enable us to have access to these drugs 
and these compounds that they are identifying that we need. The SAM-C 
Act will not solve our immediate problem. Once passed, it will 
incentivize companies that specialize in development, manufacturing, 
and workforce training to bring those operations back to the safety of 
U.S.-based labs and institutes of learning, and it will expedite having 
the antivirals and the vaccines that are needed to prevent this.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to think ahead, offer their support 
to S. 3432, and let's commit to securing our pharmaceutical supply 
chain.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.