Protecting Seniors & American Patients from Defective or Tainted Lifesaving Medications
The majority of the drugs that Americans--especially seniors-- depend on come from foreign countries, especially China, whose pharmaceuticals have been subject to numerous recalls. To address this, Congressman Posey introduced his bipartisan legislation, the Safe Medicine Act, to direct the federal government to make a concrete action plan to end its reliance on China for these lifesaving medications and allow the FDA to ban certain pharmaceuticals that are known to be contaminated.
"This dependence on foreign suppliers is a matter of U.S. national security and gives countries like China dangerous leverage over the United States, allowing them to take full advantage of supply disruptions with few controls in place to safeguard against contaminated drugs, putting American patients in danger," said Congressman Posey.
House Passes Posey's Bovine Heparin Initiative
Earlier this month, Congressman Posey's initiative to reduce American dependence on Chinese production of heparin passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. Heparin is used daily by millions in the U.S. for dialysis, blood clots, in surgery and other medical procedures. This initiative will allow for a second source of heparin, encourage private capital to drive domestic development of this lifesaving drug, and take serious steps to end America's heparin shortage.
The U.S. used to source its heparin from cattle, but after an outbreak in the 1980s, the U.S. began sourcing from pigs. China subsequently bought up the U.S. pig supply and now controls almost 60 percent of the world's pigs, which has had dangerous repercussions for American patients. Earlier this century, Chinese-based companies pumped counterfeit blood-thinners into our domestic markets to make a quick buck, but tragically 81 Americans died and many were injured.
When U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials testified before Congress on the 2008 contamination crisis, they insisted that “we must also remember that this is an essential drug, and we can’t simply stop the heparin supply.” This commonsense initiative will protect patients and secure supply of the drug for seniors and patients all over the United States.