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‘We’re Not Making Hubcaps’: Why Trump’s Wartime Approach To Manufacturing Medtech For COVID-19 Is Making Industry Sweat

 
• By Shawn M. Schmitt

Two Hogan Lovells attorneys say the medical device industry is jittery about President Trump’s 18 March invocation of the Defense Production Act. That’s because the DPA gives the government broad authority to, among other things, order manufacturers to make particular products in a time of great national need. That can be a problem if those companies can’t make complex products like ventilators – or don’t make devices in the first place. After all, “we’re not making hubcaps. We’re making important devices,” Hogan Lovells partner Mike Heyl tells Medtech Insight.

closeup of businessman loosens his shirt

Mere moments after President Trump declared on 18 March that he would invoke the Defense Production Act to push American manufacturers to make more medical devices and supplies, his vice president spun an anecdote about how various industries were champing at the bit to pitch in to fight COVID-19.

“We’re hearing a tremendous spirit among industry leaders who are ready to step in” to manufacture products that will be...

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