Episode 179: “Taking a Hard Look at our Dependence on China for Our Drugs” with Rosemary Gibson and Frank Gaffney

Thirty years ago, the United States, Europe, and Japan manufactured 90 percent of the global supply of the key ingredients for the world's medicines and vitamins. No more. China is now the largest global supplier. Millions of Americans are taking prescription and over-the-counter drugs made in, or with critical ingredients from China and they don’t know it and neither do many of their doctors. This is becoming a grave concern. As we’ve seen, first with the global pandemic driven lockdowns and now, with the Russia/Ukraine war, the world’s economy has acute supply chain interdependencies. And for America, among the top of our concerns, has to be our dependence on an increasingly hostile China for our pharmaceutical drugs. Sharing my concern and joining me on this episode are my returning guests: Rosemary Gibson, author of “China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine” And Frank Gaffney, founder of the Center for Security Policy, Vice Chairman of the Committee for the Present Danger: China and who hosts Securing America with Frank Gaffney on the Real America's Voice Network Some highlights: The FDA not only approves new drugs, but also inspects drug manufacturing plants. Worryingly, that’s happening less and less with our drugs made in China. In the spring of 2020, the US was just weeks away from not having the most basic medicines. Why? Our dependence on India, and in turn China. Is Congressional leadership so compromised by its ties to China that it is not willing to address our growing supply chain vulnerabilities? We’re told we pay more for prescription drugs to cover pharma’s huge domestic R&D costs. Pharma’s solution? Move its R&D to “low cost” China, a move that makes America ever more vulnerable to the whims of the CCP. These are complicated and important issues. Worth a listen as we work to dig into what’s at stake.