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U.S. Drug Supply Is Even More Reliant on India Than Thought

An ambitious data probe highlights how dependence on one country could pose risks for the quality and supply of critical medicines.

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Illustration: Inkee Wang for Bloomberg Businessweek
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Amid the first Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and worries that critical drugs could run low, a 200-year-old nonprofit, little known outside the drug industry, took it upon itself to meticulously map the supply chain of medications Americans take. It was an ambitious undertaking that not even the Food and Drug Administration had tried before.

U.S. Pharmacopeia has long played a critical role in the drug industry, which relies on its chemical samples to help ensure quality. The results of its huge data-mining probe were startling: Indian factories, the data showed, provide a vast amount of ingredients that go into the generic drugs Americans take.