Americans are facing a growing healthcare crisis - and your medicines are at risk

By Jon Toomey To guarantee Americans the medication they need, the U.S. must stop relying on China and India Reliance on foreign countries for medicines leaves Americans vulnerable. It's time to reduce America's dangerous dependence on imported pharmaceuticals. The U.S. is facing a healthcare crisis most Americans aren't aware of - a dangerous, growing dependence on foreign nations to supply essential daily medicines. Currently 90% of Americans' everyday medications and prescription drugs are now imported. More than 80% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients in generic drugs are produced overseas - mostly in China and India. This has led to a situation where U.S. hospitals currently face chronic shortages for more than 250 critical medicines, including life-saving chemotherapy drugs. For decades, U.S. policymakers and corporate leaders have turned a blind eye to the rapid globalization of the pharmaceutical industry. They've dismissed efforts to rebuild domestic drug manufacturing. They've simply assumed that because America is the world's leading consumer and innovator, this national affluence would always sustain its pharmaceutical dominance. Unfortunately, that's not the case. America's reliance on other countries for the medicines that sustain its healthcare system has now exposed a dangerous vulnerability. Last month, a U.S. Senate committee held bipartisan hearings on the risks of this import dependence. Economists and industry leaders testified to the scope of the crisis. And in particular, Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., deserve credit for raising the issue - and calling for solutions to rebuild domestic drug manufacturing. Prescriptions that can work Robust, public-private partnerships can have a direct impact on U.S. healthcare. The good news is that there's an opportunity to tackle the problem. The Trump administration is already taking steps to reverse decades of offshoring - and restore domestic production across critical sectors such as steel, automobiles and semiconductors. For example, the recently announced U.S.-South Korea trade agreement - which includes $350 billion in Korean investment in the United States - shows that foreign partnerships can advance American security. It's the kind of capital alignment we must now extend to pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing. Earlier this year, the Trump administration issued a number of executive orders to prioritize American manufacturing plants and restore our nation's capacity for domestic production. In particular, the administration's Section 232 trade investigation into generic drug imports could help to reduce our dependence on foreign drug production. To date, these actions have facilitated more than $350 billion in investments to boost U.S. production - a helpful start that we must extend to pharmaceutical security. Clearly there's more to do. The administration has also floated the idea of a sovereign wealth fund, and authorized close to $1 billion in loans to bolster U.S. capabilities. In October, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) announced a $1.5 trillion security and resiliency initiative - including $10 billion in direct equity for domestic supply-chain resilience. It's an important template for action, and it tells us that both the federal government and the private investment community can act to unleash the capital needed to mitigate the threats facing America's health security. The recent Senate hearing produced several bipartisan proposals, including a recommendation to establish a federal buyer's market for essential medications. That kind of procurement and reimbursement reform could create certainty for investors - and help to launch resilient, domestic pharmaceutical production. The goal of course would be scalable, innovative and advanced manufacturing in the U.S. - something just as critical as the investments in innovation and discovery that once made America a pharmaceutical powerhouse. The pieces are there to create robust, public-private partnerships that can have a direct impact on U.S. healthcare. That means the multi-trillion-dollar biopharma economy could once again produce quality generic and branded medicines here in the United States - something that would also create high-paying jobs for U.S. workers. It's time to rebuild American healthcare, and do so by merging federal policy with targeted private-sector investments that can reduce America's dangerous dependence on imported pharmaceuticals. Jon Toomey is president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which represents U.S. producers and workers. Also read: CDC panel compares the U.S. hepatitis B child vaccine schedule to Denmark's - but omits crucial context More: Why Nvidia's stock is now shrugging off Trump's approval of chip sales to China -Jon Toomey This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 12-13-25 1443ET