Neal Dunn Details Importance Of Domestic Production Of Medical Supplies

6 months ago

At a House Energy Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Neal Dunn (R-FL) questioned HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra about domestic production of medical supplies.

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Transcript

00:00 Done. Five minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary Becerra, for

00:04 being here today. I have some questions specifically about a new program housed in

00:09 ASPR. I'm excited about the mission of the Office of Industrial-Based Management and Supply Chains,

00:14 though, to be frank, I have some concerns over ASPR's experience in executing on

00:19 a program this size. So I want to highlight for you that Congress is watching. I think HHS needs

00:26 to get this right and ensure that the focus remains on this critical need. I hope we can

00:31 work together to make that a success. I believe in the shared goal of prioritizing U.S. investments

00:37 and strengthening the domestic biomanufacturing industrial base, which makes us more resilient

00:43 when future crises occur, enables us to surge production to meet demand for domestically

00:49 produced medical supplies and products. This office aims to respond to critical lessons learned

00:56 from COVID-19 pandemic. It'd be a disgrace for us to have to relearn all the same lessons again.

01:02 I also want to support good paying biomedical manufacturing jobs in the United States. So I

01:08 think the creation of the Office of Industrial-Based Management and Supply Chain, IBMSC,

01:13 was a part of the elevation of ASPR to an operating division of HHS. Now, as you know,

01:21 that office was implemented using supplemental appropriations. It was tasked with that critical

01:27 medical countermeasures like drugs, vaccines, and therapeutics are manufactured in the United

01:34 States or certainly "French" short, as it were. IBMMSC also aims to support innovative manufacturing

01:42 technologies in the fill finish capacities to better produce and distribute drug products and

01:48 vaccines, etc. In your 25 budget, you requested 95 million at ASPR for the biodefense production

01:55 of medical countermeasures and essential medicines, which would be managed by that

01:59 office as I understand, correct? Okay, good. How is the new office of IBMSC within ASPR?

02:06 How's it working to ensure these supplies are in fact manufactured here?

02:12 Congressman, first, I appreciate the mention of the work that ASPR and BARDA are doing.

02:18 And here, I'm going to ask you for some help because this is what we're requesting. We don't

02:23 know if we're going to get it. We haven't been getting the resources we need. We had a proposal

02:27 to do domestic production last year and the year before, but we didn't get the funding to do it.

02:32 How we would do it? BARDA, ASPR, they're ready to go. We've been doing some of this. COVID gave us

02:39 the capabilities to do it. Our folks are raring to go. We have private sector partners who are

02:45 raring to go because we would love nothing more than to know that the production of the most

02:51 critical countermeasures that we need in case of a pandemic are accessible to us and we don't have

02:58 to go to China or anywhere else. I see if people approach us, we have companies approach us all

03:03 the time that are actually very, you know, good American companies that are trying to manufacture

03:07 and do that in America. So I think we can help them with that. Let me turn my attention to the

03:12 IRA for a moment. The, you know, the price part of that bill. So according to the Kaiser Family

03:18 Foundation, a number of standalone drug plans is plummeting under this administration. It's down

03:24 29% since 2021 and it increased 34% under the Trump administration. So many analysts are actually

03:32 predicting that the mass exodus of standalone drug plans in 2025 is going to leave Part D,

03:38 that's when Part D we decide goes into effect, it's going to leave these

03:43 patients who take traditional Medicare, no alternative for prescription drug coverage.

03:50 So, I mean, it looks like our policy here is going to be to corral our seniors into HMOs that

03:56 restrict their choices of physicians and treatments, or they don't get a drug plan coverage

04:02 at all on CMS. Can you address that? Yeah, I'd love to see what you're reading because that's

04:07 not what I understand. What we're doing is making sure that drugs are actually going to go down in

04:13 price. Well, but the drug plans are going away. So the insurance plans for traditional Medicare,

04:19 this is not the Medicare Advantage plans, the traditional Medicare, that they will be,

04:24 they will lack coverage. Again, please share. I'm an old guy. This is a personal question.

04:29 Please share that information because that's not what I'm hearing.

04:33 Well, I'm quoting the industry at large. Well, I can understand the industry. I can understand the

04:40 industry's trying to spook people, but I'm asking to, I want to see the data myself instead of

04:45 relying on industry generated data. Turnaround is fair play. You're asking us for a written response

04:51 after that. Okay. Within 30 days. Okay. We'll do it. Thank you very much. I yield back.

04:56 Chairman yields back. Recognize Ms. Bettigan for five minutes.

05:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Secretary.

Neal Dunn Details Importance Of Domestic Production Of Medical Supplies

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