October 13, 2025

Whether purchasing over-the-counter drugs to ease the symptoms of the common cold or filling a prescription to treat a chronic condition, every Arkansan should know that the medicine they use for themselves, or their family, is safe, reliable, and effective. However, with the volume of medications and ingredients sourced from our adversaries, Americans have less oversight over the security of supply chains and the quality of pharmaceuticals they use.

This leaves American consumers and our troops relying on our greatest adversary--Communist China--to fulfill our country's medical needs. Even in a world as dangerous as ours, this is one of America's key national security challenges.

For instance, an overwhelming majority--90 percent--of the prescription drugs dispensed to Americans are generic. These types of drugs include, for example, statins to help lower cholesterol and antibiotics to treat bacterial infections. Due to the low cost of labor, generic drugs are commonly manufactured in Asia, with many of the ingredients and chemicals to make these lifesaving medications coming from Communist China.

For example, consider losartan, a generic drug used by millions of Americans that is often prescribed to treat high blood pressure. Seventy-eight percent of the losartan taken by Americans is manufactured in foreign countries, with a majority of the drug's ingredients sourced from Communist China.

America's reliance upon Communist China for many of the chemicals used to make key drugs is both a public health and security risk.

As a consequence, the United States is faced with a critical national security threat that puts our warfighting capabilities and readiness at risk. In 2023, Congress directed the Department of Defense to identify defense-specific pharmaceutical supply-chain risks. The Pentagon's report found that 27 percent of the medication it purchased came from "very high-risk sources," meaning the drugs came from Chinese manufacturers using Chinese ingredients, or the drugs came from unknown sources.

This threatens the availability and supply of certain essential medications for our troops and jeopardizes the quality of medications used by every American. Making matters worse, insufficient foreign inspections in Communist China, as well as counterfeit medications entering the market, further endanger American consumers.

It's no surprise that Communist China has long worked to keep U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors out of its facilities. The Trump administration recognizes this risk. Earlier this year, the Trump FDA expanded on the Unannounced Inspection Pilot program to allow for more oversight and quality control over foreign entities, specifically in Communist China.

But more must be done to decrease our reliance on Communist China for pharmaceuticals and ensure that medicines entering our domestic supply chains are safe for Americans.

This Congress, I reintroduced the ABC Safe Drug Act, which requires pharmaceutical manufacturers that provide drugs for the federal government to move their supply chains out of Communist China and incentivizes building up our domestic manufacturing capability.

Additionally, as researchers develop new drugs in the United States, Chinese theft of American intellectual property remains a significant problem. That is why I recently introduced the American Medicine Safety and Security Act. This legislation will bar Chinese nationals from working at the FDA and ensure that individuals with potential ties to the Chinese Communist Party do not have access to proprietary pharmaceutical information.

Now is the time to ensure safe and reliable sourcing of the medications that give Americans the chance to live healthy lives.

Tom Cotton is the junior U.S. senator for the state of Arkansas.