China Steps In To Help Relieve US Cancer Drug Shortages

Despite Wider Decoupling Underway

15 Jun 2023

At least one major Chinese supplier is being tapped to relieve a shortage of certain drugs in the US despite rising Beijing-Washington tensions, but China may be increasingly unwilling to co-operate amid its own shifting economic priorities, increasingly introspective policies and some shortages of its own.

China's Qilu supplying chemotherapy drug to US to help relieve shortages • Source: Shutterstock

In early June, an announcement from the US Food and Drug Administration highlighted an urgent need to secure continued supplies of certain drugs. The agency noted that more than 130 products, including 14 treatments for cancer, were in short supply.

On 13 June 13, the Health Subcommittee of the US House of Representatives then held a public hearing to highlight...