The safety of generic pharmaceuticals imported into the United States is a top concern for Americans, according to a new poll of registered voters.
The survey was conducted by Morning Consult for Americans for Safe Drugs, and revealed that a big majority of voters want their medications to be made in the U.S. and worry about the country's dependency on China and India for key pharmaceuticals and ingredients.
"Substantial parts of the supply chain" are controlled by China and India, the Biden administration wrote last year. Drug manufacturers are not required to disclose where the ingredients are sourced.
In the poll, 85% favored the inspections of facilities that have been flagged for violating federal regulations, 84% want imports to be halted, and 86% want the manufacturer’s products to be tested.
An organization Americans for Safe Drugs is launching national digital advertisements on Facebook and Twitter, highlighting violations by generic drug manufacturers of the Food and Drug Administration’s safety regulations. The organization was created by the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a bipartisan trade group working to boost manufacturing in the U.S.
In 2019, Aurobindo Pharma, an Indian manufacturer of generic drugs, was found to be manufacturing a blood pressure medicine with high levels of carcinogenic impurity.
And in 2018, the FDA announced that NDMA, a chemical and carcinogen once used in rocket fuel, was found in a widely used blood pressure medicine. Ten companies had to recall drugs bought from a major Chinese supplier.
"For too long, Chinese and Indian drug manufacturers have flagrantly violated FDA’s safety regulations while flooding the U.S. with tens of millions of doses of potentially unsafe generic drugs," Coalition for a Prosperous America Chairman Zach Mottl said.
"Americans for Safe Drugs is going to expose this crisis that's plaguing the U.S. healthcare system and endangering the health and lives of countless Americans. It’s time to put an end to this and bring generic drug manufacturing back to the U.S."
The U.S. is dependent on pharmaceutical imports for a range of generic drugs, which represent about 90% of all prescription medicines filled in the country, the Washington Examiner reported.
More than two-thirds of generic drugs, and 87% of key generic drug ingredients, are made overseas, according to the Biden administration, including 80% of key ingredients made in factories in China or India.
Low-cost labor is one reason why drugs are manufactured overseas. In addition to safety concerns, America has become vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A full 85% of people surveyed by Morning Consult and Americans for Safe Drugs said they want the U.S. to become a leader in generic pharmaceutical manufacturing, with a plurality of Democrats and Republicans agreeing.
Most voters, 82%, also want the government to act on price-gouging by foreign generic manufacturers, who gain a market monopoly and put U.S. manufacturers out of business.
The survey of 2,005 registered voters was conducted between March 12-14, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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