U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.) introduced bipartisan legislation June 15 which would require federal agencies to create a list of critical drug products, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of the entire pharmaceutical supply chain for those critical drug products and report to Congress on plan to mitigate the supply chain vulnerabilities identified. Referred to as the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Risk Assessment Act (S. 1961), the legislation was introduced with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).
The federal agencies responsible for creating the list of critical drug products includes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security. This list builds on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s essential medicines list.
Peters is Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and this legislation builds off recommendations from two reports he released in 2019 and 2023 that identified national security concerns related to an overdependence on foreign sources for critical drug products and a lack of transparency into U.S. pharmaceutical supply chains.
This legislation also follows recent shortages of the chemotherapy drugs carboplatin and cisplatin, which Peters and other members of Michigan’s Congressional delegation have taken an active role in addressing.
Members with questions about federal legislation or drug shortages should contact Laura Appel at the MHA.