SHORING UP

Trump Administration Signs Contract to Create Strategic Stockpile of Medicine Ingredients

The new cache of key ingredients for medicines aims to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains.

The Trump administration has signed a $354 million contract to create the nation’s first strategic stockpile of key ingredients needed to make medicines to shore up the drug-supply chain and reduce America’s dependence on foreign manufacturers. The agreement was signed Monday with Phlow Corp., a generic-drug maker based in Virginia. According to a news release to be made public Tuesday, the project will use federal funds from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority under the Department of Health and Human Services. Phlow said it had been in discussions with the administration since November but that the project was fast-tracked once COVID-19 hit.