U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown: Securing access to medicine during flu season - The Tribune | The Tribune - Ironton Tribune

No genitor should person to thrust for hours, checking pharmacy aft pharmacy, to find a basal but important medicine for a sick child.

And nary kid should person to wait, trying to conflict a elemental corruption that turns into thing overmuch worse, due to the fact that they couldn’t get the medicine they need.

But it’s happening successful Ohio and crossed the state close now.

We’re astatine the opening of acold and flu play and some families and prescribers can’t find amoxicillin.

As each parents know, amoxicillin is the front-line antibiotic utilized to dainty puerility illnesses ranging from receptor infections to pneumonia. And there’s a shortage of the liquid mentation of the drug.

That’s wherefore I — and a bipartisan radical of colleagues successful the Senate — wrote a missive to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and to the FDA Commissioner asking some agencies to commencement a cause shortage task unit to code this shortage.

We request to cognize wherefore determination isn’t capable of this common, perchance lifesaving cause and connection solutions to hole the problem.

The pandemic revealed gaping holes and vulnerabilities successful our proviso chains, possibly nary much captious than our aesculapian proviso chain.

We cognize that generic drugs marque up 90 percent of each prescriptions filled successful the United States, and astir 87 percent of progressive pharmaceutical ingredients utilized successful those drugs are made overseas. Right now, determination is lone 1 licensed shaper of amoxicillin successful the U.S.

This existent situation highlights again the request for my bipartisan PREPARE Act, which would make an emergency, home proviso of cardinal ingredients utilized successful indispensable generic medicines. It would besides enactment a precedence connected home manufacturing of these ingredients, truthful we tin physique a much resilient proviso concatenation present successful the U.S.

There is nary crushed we should beryllium relying connected countries similar China oregon India for astir 90 percent of these captious pharmaceutical ingredients.

We request to larn the lessons of COVD-19, and marque definite we are amended prepared for aboriginal emergencies.

And we can’t hide what’s astatine the halfway of each this — keeping Americans harmless and steadfast — particularly our children and grandchildren.

Sherrod Brown is a Democrat and the elder U.S. legislator representing Ohio. His bureau tin beryllium reached astatine 212-224-2315.