Nation's sole manufacturer of Amoxicillin brand products warns US at 'substantial risk'
83% of the raw ingredients that go into making pharmaceutical drugs are based overseas, according to US Pharmacopeia
Amoxicillin antibiotics shortage plagues parents as domestic drug manufacturing shrinks
FOX Business’ Lydia Hu reports from Nutley, New Jersey to investigate the nationwide Amoxicillin shortage that has become a major concern for parents on ‘Varney & Co.’
Parents across the country are panicking because they cannot get simple antibiotics like Amoxicillin for their children.
According to U.S. Pharmacopeia, 83% of the critically needed raw ingredients that go into making pharmaceutical drugs are based overseas, a supply chain concern that puts the U.S. at a "substantial risk," according to the nation's sole manufacturer of Amoxicillin brand products.
"About 80% of all antibiotics and many medications are produced in either India or China, or overseas, in any case. And that puts us as a country at substantial risk, not only risk of not having the medications, but it's, of course, a public health risk. And, a security risk for our country because we become dependent upon some of these other countries," USAntibiotics President Patrick Cashman told FOX Business' Lydia Hu.
Data from U.S. Pharmacopeia is used in a pie chart to visualize the percentage of active pharmaceutical ingredients that are supplied to the U.S. (Fox News / Fox News)
The United States' heavy reliance on international drug production puts the future of the supply chain in severe jeopardy. A disruption of work, for example in China due to its zero-COVID policy, disrupts the entire supply of medication in the U.S.
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By the end of last year, facilities in India accounted for nearly half of those who could supply pharmaceutical ingredients to the U.S. European companies made up 22%, and China accounted for 13%. The U.S. only made up 10% of the facilities that could supply these active medicine ingredients domestically.
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Since the early 2000s, China and India have grown their capacity to supply drug ingredients to the United States. Companies in India were associated with 20% of the growth in the year 2000, but by the end of last year, they had grown to 62% for the year.
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Similarly, China’s capacity grew from 4% to 23%. Meanwhile, the number of new American companies making drug ingredients shrank from 15% to a mere 4% last year.
A suspension of the common antibiotic Amoxicillin Trihydrate in the pharmacy at the Reading Hospital. ( Susan L. Angstadt/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images / Getty Images)
USAntibiotics President says that until the U.S. brings the supply chain back to American soil, issues like the Amoxicillin shortage will continue to impact Americans nationwide.