FDA’s Hahn: No sign China has affected U.S. drug supply during coronavirus pandemic

With pharmaceutical supply chains under immense pressure due to the novel coronavirus, China’s role as a global ingredient producer has come under scrutiny. Despite fears the East Asian nation could shut off the tap for U.S. drugs, the FDA said it hasn’t yet noticed major signs for concern. 

The FDA hasn’t seen a shortage of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) sourced from China due to the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak but is “closely monitoring the situation,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn told Fox News on Sunday. 

“We don’t have any evidence that there’s a drug in short supply because of anyone blocking the active pharmaceutical ingredients coming to us (from China),” Hahn said. 

China’s role as a major supplier of global API for generic and branded drugs has come into focus as the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 have increasingly strained the pharmaceutical supply chain in recent weeks. 

Hahn highlighted reported spot shortages of certain drugs due to increased demand but said China’s API tap is still running, despite escalating rhetoric between the Chinese and U.S. governments. Hahn highlighted the Trump administration’s push to develop “advanced” manufacturing stateside to help drive greater redundancy in the supply chain. 

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