Tuberville in Yellowhammer News: ‘America Needs to Make Its Own Medicines Again’

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and Oxford Pharmaceuticals Chairman Tom Neely penned an op-ed in Yellowhammer News outlining the importance of returning generic drug production to America instead of relying on foreign supply chains.

Excerpts from the op-ed can be found below, and the full op-ed can be read here.

"While many of us try our best to forget the COVID pandemic in 2020, one serious issue that was revealed during that chaotic time is still impacting us today-our reliance on other countries for medications. Most Americans are so used to taking medicines that they don't stop to think where the medicine in their cabinets is coming from. The pandemic revealed how dangerous it is for the United States to be completely reliant on other countries for medications we could be making right here at home."

"Americans are paying the price of Washington's poor decisions. Last year, we spent $5.7 trillion on health care. Yet, we're still the sickest and fattest country in the world. It's embarrassing. I appreciate President Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy for wanting to 'Make America Healthy Again.' Part of this involves producing our own medicine."

"Alabama is home to such facilities, like Oxford Pharmaceuticals located in Birmingham, Alabama. It produces a generic tablet for a little over one cent per pill. A bottle of 100 doses costs about $1.50 to make. Medicare reimburses that same bottle at more than $13. The money is there-it's just being siphoned off by a supply chain that rewards middlemen and foreign producers instead of American workers and patients."

"Americans deserve better than the status quo. We can't wait for another pandemic to hit to take this seriously. It isn't just a health crisis; it's an urgent national security concern as well. We haven't been preparing to win in America when it comes to our generic drug supply chain, and we are another disruption away from failure."

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

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