Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage throughout Florida’s Gulf Coast, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with local officials and volunteers from the barrier islands to discuss the storm’s impact and current recovery efforts. Photos are courtesy of...
Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 storm, causing catastrophic damage along Florida’s Gulf Coast. It’s crucial for the federal government to expedite state-requested resources and authorize key policy flexibilities in order for Floridians to make a swift...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host two in-person events to assist constituents affected by Hurricane Helene and help navigate applications for FEMA assistance. Food, water, and additional resources will be available at the events. Event...
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) office will host in-person and virtual Mobile Office Hours next week to assist constituents with federal casework issues in their respective local communities. These office hours offer constituents who do not live close to one of...
Following the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Debby, some local governments in Florida face looming budget shortfalls that could disrupt disaster recovery efforts. If these local governments receive reimbursements for past hurricanes from the Federal Emergency...
Following Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic path through northwest Florida, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) met with local officials and volunteers from Citrus County. Senator Rubio also met with small business owners impacted by the storm. Photos are courtesy of...
Amoxicillin Shortage Shows the Need for Domestic Drug Production
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)
November 28, 2022
Newsweek
…This fall, the spread of RSV in children and related bacterial infections prompted a run on pharmacies for the antibiotic amoxicillin. Far-flung supply chains, still backed up from the initial shock of COVID-19, have been unable to compensate for the surge in demand. The result is a national shortage of the drug––and widespread anxiety among parents of sick kids….
It’s something I’ve warned about for years. In a 2019 speech at the National Defense University, I acknowledged that moving drug production overseas lowered labor costs and increased corporate profits, but I pointed out that it came with a cost. It made us dependent on Communist China, our greatest geopolitical adversary, for essential goods….
American antibiotics used to be made in the U.S. But by 2019, 80% of the medical industry’s active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for drugs like amoxicillin came from overseas––and a majority were potentially traceable to China. Now, when amoxicillin is needed the most, it’s nowhere to be found…. We’re long overdue for a change in approach.
I reintroduced my Medical Manufacturing, Economic Development, and Sustainability (MMEDS) Act in 2020 to bring that change about. This bill would use financial incentives to encourage the relocation of medical and pharmaceutical production to the U.S….
It’s been almost three years since COVID first reached our shores––our leaders no longer have the excuse of inexperience with medical emergencies. If Congress does not act to restore America’s medical and pharmaceutical industries, it will show…a willful negligence of potentially deadly proportions.