McClatchy: Security concerns raised as China fills U.S. medicine chest

[babylonsister]

Security concerns raised as China fills U.S. medicine chest
By Tim Johnson | McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING — The medicine cabinet in the average U.S. home is filling with drugs made in China, and some experts say that could be a prescription for trouble.

China's booming pharmaceutical industry has doubled exports to the United States in the past five years, undercutting competitors and making American consumers reliant on the safety of Chinese factories and captive to any disruptions in Sino-U.S. commerce.

It might seem like merely a trade issue. But industry experts in Europe and the United States say national-security concerns are edging into the debate.

Consider this scenario:

If a major anthrax attack were to occur in the United States — larger than the one in 2001, when five people died — pharmaceutical companies that make the two antibiotics most suitable for treatment, Cipro and doxycycline, would have no choice but to rely on China or India for key ingredients once American stockpiles were exhausted. Those ingredients no longer are made in the West.

A Portuguese company that ramped up doxycycline production in 2001 at Washington's request said China now controlled the flow of its crucial drug component.

"If we were asked to do this again, we would be dependent on China providing us with key starting materials that are unavailable in the rest of the world," said Guy Villax, the chief executive of Hovione, a Lisbon-based fine chemicals company.

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http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/22601.html

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. Lassie Faire(sp) Capitalism is looking more like terrorism

every day. How many stories are out there about drugs from China that are either fake, poisonous, or just bad? I am not a Che Guevara Marxist, but I think it is time to put the beat-down on the free market in this country. As Dick Vitale would say REGULATE BABY, It's Time To REGULATE, CALL THE T.O. FDA!!

[dbackjon]

2. Isn't Big Pharma's rationale for high prices

Is that the high cost of making drugs in the U.S. ensures their safety??? Shouldn't drug prices come down then?

Personally, I don't want any drugs made in China - I don't trust them.

[spanone]

3. once upon a time our gov't actually held importers accountable