WASHINGTON — President Biden is using a Cold War-era law to stem drug shortages by boosting domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Biden announced the initiative at the first meeting of his supply chain resilience council. It’s based on a law, the Defense Production Act, that lets the government require private companies to make materials deemed necessary for national defense, in this case essential medicines and medical countermeasures.
The White House will spend $35 million to boost domestic production of key starting materials for sterile injectables, which are the drugs that hospitals commonly use and are most prone to shortages.