Experts say Donald Trump’s President’s orders impose 10 % of tariffs on importing China, raising the cost of US generic drugs and worsening drug shortages.
Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, a physician of Harvard University School of Medicine, is made overseas, with about half of the generic drugs taken in the United States, including cancer drugs, antibiotics, and blood thinner in the United States. He said that the research focuses on prescription drugs.
The active drug components used in drugs, or more share of APIs, come from overseas. About 80 %, he said.
According to data shared by Pharmacopia in the United States, a non -profit organization that focuses on the safety of drug supply chains, China is becoming more and more active in the production of these ingredients. According to the group, in 2023, there were about 219 API facilities from 134 in 2021. India is still the largest global producer of the API and has about half of all facilities.
According to the Accessible Pharmaceutical Association, the Generic Drug Maker, the Generic Drug Association accounts for about 90 % of the filled prescriptions.
Unlike brand medicine, generics are sold at low prices, and in many cases they are close to the cost they earn. In other words, tariffs such as tariffs lead to a shortage, and Kesselheim said that companies could force consumers to pay for consumers.
The shortage is likely to be immediate, but he said, “We will expect the price to rise in the next few months.”
“If generic drugs are sold through distributors and supply chains, there are usually contracts,” he said. “It may take several months for some of these contracts to be delivered.
Vimala Raghavedran, Vice President of the American Pharmacy, said that companies usually have a few months of API.
“Therefore, the effect of changing the policy may take some time to pass through the supply chain,” she said.
In the statement, John Murphy III, the president and CEO of the accessible pharmaceutical association, called for the Trump administration to be exempted.
“From basic ingredients to finished products, US pharmaceuticals are already stressed and rely on global supply chains, which require strengthening,” he said. “General manufacturers cannot absorb new costs.”
The White House did not respond immediately to the comment request.
Rena Conti, an associate professor at the University of Boston’s QUESTROM SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, has said that higher prices have been protected to prevent consumers from clashing directly. This includes a state -prevention type gown method and a tax of the Biden era for drug manufacturers that raise the price of drugs faster than inflation.
“So if one of the manufacturers wants to go ahead and raise the price, they will pay another tax to the other side,” she said.
According to Conti, she was worried that hospitals and pharmacists would stockpile drugs to avoid paying higher costs. It is vulnerable to tariffs.
“There is enough money to call enough money and wholesalers to a hospital or pharmacy with better resources and to see if you can buy more specific products,” she said. Ta. “Mom and pop pharmacies, small hospitals, and rural hospitals that do not actually buy a lot of drugs will be difficult to get things if they are wrapped in panic.”
Arthur Caplan, the head of the medical ethics division of New York City, said that tariffs as generic drugs are unlikely to promote production in the United States. Construction of new manufacturing facilities.
According to him, Trump’s tariff means that the United States cannot rely on his neighbor Mexico and Canada to reduce the problem.
On Saturday, Trump imposed a 25 % tariff on border countries. Mexico’s tariff was delayed a month after the government reached the agreement.
“It will take several months, but the drug price will rise,” said Couplan.
