President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at reducing approval time for pharmaceutical plants to encourage domestic manufacturing.
The big picture: The order directs the FDA to streamline reviews, work with domestic manufacturers, and improve enforcement of active-ingredient source reporting by foreign producers.
- The FDA plans to conduct surprise inspections of overseas plants to align oversight more closely with the United States.
- Trump’s goal is to shift drug manufacturing to the United States, potentially imposing tariffs on pharmaceutical imports in the next two weeks.
- The new executive order also directs the EPA to accelerate facility construction.
GO deeper: The administration is launching probes into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, considering tariffs due to national security concerns over foreign production reliance.
- Companies like Roche, Novartis, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson have announced investments in US manufacturing.
- The long timeline for building new manufacturing plants is deemed unacceptable from a national security standpoint.
- Despite unclear details on tariffs, Trump vows to bring medical supply chains back to the US for national security reasons.
