Coronavirus - Potential Drug Shortage from China?

80% of drugs or their ingredients are now made in China. In 2018, Rosemary Gibson wrote a book called "Chinese Rx: Exposing the Risk of of America's Dependence on China for Medicine."  Her warning could be playing out. 

"ROSEMARY GIBSON: What happens if we have a Fukushima type event or the trade routes are blocked in the South China Sea? Or if there's a global pandemic? And the United States and virtually every other country in the world is dependent on a few companies in China for the ingredients to make critical antibiotics.

SHARYL ATTKISSON: If China stopped making or sending its ingredients the United States for any reason, would it cause shortages in the United States?

ROSEMARY GIBSON: Within months pharmacy shelves in the United States would be bare. That's how dependent the United States is and the rest of the world. It's a national security issue that no one's talking about."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/04/23/author_rosemary_gibson_us_is_becoming_dependent_on_china_for_vital_medicine.html

Hey cramer! I had been wondering where you went. Thanks for coming back with this cheerfulness! 

I'm off to buy all the Pepcid and Children's Tylenol from CVS.

My namesake mentioned it:

"China--pharma. this will cost us lives.. We need pills... we need pharma... we need our medicines.. lives are at stake"

https://twitter.com/jimcramer/status/1230872102619750401

btw, mrincredible  - Happy Sticky Bun Day! 

technically speaking, a Cinnabon is not a sticky bun.

100% of my husband's generic heart medication come from India.  Each refill seems to come from a different manufacturer. I'm unsure what this means in terms of his longevity....(too many reports of sawdust type ingredients in medicine sorced from there)...but if the pharmacies have bare shelves, will they stay open for the 20 percenters? 

Realistically, the U.S. has become too dependent upon all sorts of products and parts from a single source and the current situation hopefully will be a wake-up call to our manufacturers and governments.

krnl said:

100% of my husband's generic heart medication come from India.  Each refill seems to come from a different manufacturer. I'm unsure what this means in terms of his longevity....(too many reports of sawdust type ingredients in medicine sorced from there)...but if the pharmacies have bare shelves, will they stay open for the 20 percenters? 

Realistically, the U.S. has become too dependent upon all sorts of products and parts from a single source and the current situation hopefully will be a wake-up call to our manufacturers and governments.

Many of the active ingredients in generic drugs manufactured in India are imported from China. That's why I said in the op "80%  of drugs or their ingredients are made in China." 

"China’s coronavirus pandemic is turning out to be a huge disruptor to India’s $39-billion drug production by severely affecting the flow of imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and bulk drugs from the country, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

India imports 70% of its API requirements from China, which amounts to $2.4 billion. These imports are used to manufacture key medicines such as paracetamol, metformin, ofloxacin, metronidazole, ampicillin and amoxycillin."

https://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/china-s-coronavirus-impacting-indian-pharma-manufacturing