Washington, D.C. - Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) will tomorrow introduce the Protecting our Pharmaceutical Supply Chain from China Act, which would end U.S. dependence on China for pharmaceutical manufacturing. The bill's key restrictions would go into effect in 2022 and have no impact on the current coronavirus pandemic. No FDA resources will be diverted to begin implementation. Specifically, the bill will:

  1. Track active pharmaceutical ingredients through an FDA registry.
  2. Prohibit pharmaceutical purchases from China or products with active pharmaceutical ingredients created in China*.
  3. Create transparency in the supply chain by instituting a country of origin label of all imported drugs.
  4. Provide economic incentives for manufacturing drugs and medical equipment in the United States.


"The Chinese Communist Party has threatened to cut off America's access to vital drugs in the midst of a pandemic caused by its own failures. It's time to pull America's supply chains for life-saving medicine out of China and make the CCP pay for contributing to this global emergency," said Cotton.

"The Chinese Communist Party's outrageous threats to withhold lifesaving drugs from the U.S. endangers public health and should open our eyes to our dangerous over-reliance on China in our medical supply chain," said Gallagher. "This is a national security imperative that to many Americans, is a matter of life and death. It's past time for us to develop an aggressive plan to move critical pharmaceutical supply chains away from China."

Click here for a one-pager on the bill.

* This requirement will be phased in over two years. The FDA may issue waivers if the active pharmaceutical ingredients are only available in China, however, no waivers may be issued after 2024.