[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 54 (Friday, March 20, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S1870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  SECURING AMERICA'S MEDICINE CABINET

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, I have spoken several times about the 
vulnerabilities in our pharmaceutical supply chain and again encourage 
my colleagues to support the bipartisan Securing America's Medicine 
Cabinet Act--or SAM-C Act--which I am sponsoring alongside my colleague 
from New Jersey, Senator Menendez.
  Without intervention, the FDA expects the pharmaceutical industry 
will continue to rely on Chinese companies to make the active 
pharmaceutical ingredients--or the APIs--that are necessary for so many 
of our prescription and over-the-counter drugs. The threat it poses to 
our supply chain is real.
  On February 27, 2020, the FDA announced the shortage of one drug that 
is used to treat patients with coronavirus. They attributed the 
shortage to difficulties obtaining the API from a site in China. That 
site has been affected by--guess what--coronavirus.
  We do not need to remain vulnerable. We need to realize that we are 
dealing with someone who has not been transparent. They have hidden 
information from us. They are causing shortages of drugs and vaccines 
and antibiotics. It is time for us to learn from these lessons. If we 
ignore them, we do so at our own peril.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama

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