From another thread: "Media is spreading the word that we import a lot of our drugs from China. We do not. We do import a lot of the medical supplies and paraphernalia, such as gloves, masks, gowns, etc., which we can make ourselves."
[Begin quote] From Investopedia (2017) Who Supplies America’s Drugs?
Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Israel, and India are the top five drug suppliers to the US, in the decreasing order of import dollar value.
More than 52% of imported drugs were from the first four countries, none of which qualifies for a low-cost or cheap-labor destination.
Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and Israel focus on research-based pharmaceutical development. Only India, with around 7% of contribution to the U.S. drug imports, is a low-cost economy offering labor cost arbitrage. It indicates that U.S. mainly imports drugs that are innovative and research-oriented, rather than those which offer cost advantage.
Ireland holds the top rank, with around $15.2 billion worth of drug exports to the U.S., constituting 18% of the total U.S. drug imports of 2015. It is closely followed by Germany with $14.5 billion, or around 17%. Another European nation, Switzerland, supplied $9.4 billion worth of drugs, representing around 11% contribution. Israel stands fourth at $6 billion, at par with Indian exports to U.S.
[End quote]
Those other countries, Israel, India, etc get their reactants and API’s from China.
India has stopped exporting ‘strategic’ drugs to anyone else.
We clearly don’t make enough supplies or they wouldn’t be asking construction workers to donate their masks to medical workers.
China is in the supply chain, initially, for nearly every antibiotic produced anywhere on the planet.
Half baked articles that claim otherwise based on intermediate/finished products coming from elsewhere don’t impress me. Sry.
https://globalnews.ca/news/6570411/covid-19-drug-shortage-worry-canada/
““China produces 80 per cent of the world’s supply of active pharmaceutical ingredient. Those are the parts of the pills that actually do something.””
When it comes down to brass tacks...and the medical supplies for their own people, whose side do you think our ‘allies’ would be on?
We don’t import final-form drug products from China. But the great majority of ingredients, yes.