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“We are the largest and most obese nation globally, and I believe this is a trial run for China,” stated Patsy Writesman, the board president of RX Border Defense, during a news event. The gathering also included Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), former Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeff Gerrish, and RX Border Defense board member Raul Lopez.
Writesman and Lopez participated in a conversation with News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle, focusing on the security of American healthcare. They addressed concerns about the dominance of China in healthcare and the potential pitfalls of America’s response, whether ineffective or counterproductive.
Writesman highlighted how China can inundate American markets with its products and ingredients, often without the awareness of even the most vigilant American consumers.
“I recently searched online for obesity medications, and within just over an hour, I received 29 targeted ads and promotions for these drugs,” she explained to Boyle. “Upon examining the details, I found it aligned with China’s practices. Despite being an informed consumer, especially on this topic, I couldn’t determine where the drug was manufactured or what ingredients it contained.”
She expressed concern over the quality of drug ingredients entering the U.S. “There’s a broad array of companies not being stopped at the border, with over 50% being Chinese. While the FDA imposes stringent standards for American companies, they don’t apply the same criteria to imported goods.”
Writesman referenced a specific Chinese company that, during inspection, was found to have issues with insects, water, and bacteria. Yet, this company was included on the “approved list” for supplying ingredients for compounded GLP-1s—customized, non-FDA-approved versions of obesity medications. “These compounding issues are slipping through and pose significant dangers to us,” she warned.
She hypothesized that adverse effect from these compounding ingredients are underreported, as the online community does not have to report issues as the medical community does. “People are looking at cost and how fast they can get what they want online, but they aren’t looking at the longer-term cost,” she warned. In some cases, the cost is severe, such as a Kentucky woman Writesman cited who, after one month on a compounded weight loss drug, suffered kidney failure.
In addition to the threats to American consumers, Writesman also described the negative impact on the American pharmaceutical industry, which follows FDA rules and regulations, while China ignores those regulations to build its biotech empire. She said that American pharmaceutical companies do the research and development on new and innovative drugs at great cost.
“We are one of the first to markets on new treatments…we are looked at as the leader, or as a leader,” she said. “But if China continues with the financial component, and they are given the authority to continue to affect our health care system like they are, that reduces what we can do as Americans and what we can do as American companies.”
She added, “It is harmful to the Americans from a health perspective. It’s harmful to Americans from a financial perspective, and in the development of drugs that will take care of issues in the future, right?”
In addressing the cost to develop new drugs and the subsequent cost of drugs to the American consumer, Writesman came down squarely against any sort of price controls.
“I do think that’s one area where a mistake is being made, because I think in a way, most favored nation [status] is putting a cap on pricing, and it negatively affects us, and in essence, it kind of is bringing in a socialized structure in pricing for drugs,” she said.
Gerrish, the former U.S. Trade Representative, echoed Writesman, saying most favored nation status and price controls for pharmaceuticals “would play right into China’s hands.”
“What that’s going to do is cut the revenues for our pharmaceutical industry when China is on the rise and seeking to surpass us,” he added.
To address the issues of cost and ingredient quality, Lopez, Writesman’s fellow RX Border Defense board member, said, “To me, it’s pretty simple. You hold China to at least the same standard that we hold with American companies, and I would even go an extra step to a higher standard, like you said, more accountability, more transparency, because their motives are not to help the American people. Their motive is to control and have us dependent on [them] so then whenever they want to do something, they can just pull our strings.”
