From the pages of Investor’s Business Daily …
Making Drug Manufacturing Great Again
President Trump wants to lower drug prices and reinvigorate domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing. Bravo. But standing in the way is the inside-the-Beltway gospel that preaches that regulators love ambiguity.
As a former FDA associate commissioner, I can affirm that's true. Vagueness gives the agency almost unlimited authority to do whatever it wants.
But, when it comes to the FDA, it's predictability in pursuit of the public health that's important. And nowhere is this truer or more timely than when it comes to the oversight of drug manufacturing.
Drug manufacturing isn't sexy to the general public and rarely makes headlines — unless something goes wrong. Recalls make headlines. Adherence to current good manufacturing practices (GMPs) do not.
A few years ago I had the chance to visit Pfizer's Kalamazoo production facility. What impressed me more than the gee-whiz production aspects of the facility (of which there were plenty) was the dedication of the people who work there — top to bottom.
It actually reminded me a lot of the FDA. Long-term employees dedicated to serving the public health through dedication to quality. And they all took it very personally. Just like at the FDA, the Pfizer folks were on personal missions of quality. There was a lot of pride on display.
Mr. President — there hasn't been an exodus of pharma manufacturing to foreign shores. In fact, when I visited the Kalamazoo facility they were exporting (among other things) the active pharmaceutical ingredient (or API, the actual drug substance) for methyl prednisolone (a corticosteroid long off patent) to both China and India.
A U.S. manufacturing facility of an innovative biopharmaceutical company that exports drugs to China and India for profit? What's wrong with this picture? Well, as it turns out, it's what's right — innovation through manufacturing prowess, organic chemistry smarts and green technology. Better. Faster. Cheaper.
Pharma's always bragging about its ever-growing investment in R&D. But when was the last time you heard about investments in domestic manufacturing? Probably never.
And when was the last time you read about enhanced drug safety through good manufacturing processes and cooperation between industry and the FDA? Not recently. That's a shame because they're both important stories.
The president's nomination of Dr. Scott Gottlieb to be the next FDA commissioner likely portends a more holistic view of drug regulation. I served with Scott for two years at the agency. Not only is he a voice for greater regulatory predictability, he's also a silo-buster.
Having previously served as deputy commissioner, he understands the need for greater interdepartmental cooperation. In other words, it's not just about better utilization of expedited review pathways or better use of real-world data, or enhanced post-market surveillance, or more robust off-label communications. It's about making the process work for patients.
But manufacturing is all about process. Modernized pharmaceutical manufacturing isn't only about ensuring and enhancing quality for finished medicines, it's also about making America's pharmaceutical factories globally competitive players in the production of API (like Pfizer's plant in Kalamazoo) and excipients (the ingredients other than the API that are included in the manufacturing process or are contained in a finished pharmaceutical product.)
And the more complicated the drug, the more complicated the active pharmaceuticals and other ingredients. American know-how and dedication to GMPs present a wonderful opportunity for our domestic facilities to thrive. Quality manufacturing is our unique proposition vis-a-vis less expensive operations overseas.
FDA regulation of medicine manufacturing is also a crucial piece of the solution to preventing future drug shortages. According to a 2012 report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, by hastily ramping up manufacturing enforcement actions, the FDA "effectively shut down 30% of the total manufacturing capacity at four of the country's largest producers of generic injectable medications."
Resolving this problem will require the FDA to work with manufacturers to find practical, science-based solutions to quality-control issues that neither compromise safety nor slow down production. Regulatory discretion is often the better part of valor.
Enforcement of savvy manufacturing quality control is crucial, but an equally important (and often ignored) aspect of the FDA's mission is to advance America's pharmaceutical production acumen by being both regulator of and partner with industry.
That's a winning combination: the best and the brightest from industry and government together with the best production capabilities in the world. The keys to the kingdom are on the table.
Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner, is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Making Drug Manufacturing Great Again
President Trump wants to lower drug prices and reinvigorate domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing. Bravo. But standing in the way is the inside-the-Beltway gospel that preaches that regulators love ambiguity.
As a former FDA associate commissioner, I can affirm that's true. Vagueness gives the agency almost unlimited authority to do whatever it wants.
But, when it comes to the FDA, it's predictability in pursuit of the public health that's important. And nowhere is this truer or more timely than when it comes to the oversight of drug manufacturing.
Drug manufacturing isn't sexy to the general public and rarely makes headlines — unless something goes wrong. Recalls make headlines. Adherence to current good manufacturing practices (GMPs) do not.
A few years ago I had the chance to visit Pfizer's Kalamazoo production facility. What impressed me more than the gee-whiz production aspects of the facility (of which there were plenty) was the dedication of the people who work there — top to bottom.
It actually reminded me a lot of the FDA. Long-term employees dedicated to serving the public health through dedication to quality. And they all took it very personally. Just like at the FDA, the Pfizer folks were on personal missions of quality. There was a lot of pride on display.
Mr. President — there hasn't been an exodus of pharma manufacturing to foreign shores. In fact, when I visited the Kalamazoo facility they were exporting (among other things) the active pharmaceutical ingredient (or API, the actual drug substance) for methyl prednisolone (a corticosteroid long off patent) to both China and India.
A U.S. manufacturing facility of an innovative biopharmaceutical company that exports drugs to China and India for profit? What's wrong with this picture? Well, as it turns out, it's what's right — innovation through manufacturing prowess, organic chemistry smarts and green technology. Better. Faster. Cheaper.
Pharma's always bragging about its ever-growing investment in R&D. But when was the last time you heard about investments in domestic manufacturing? Probably never.
And when was the last time you read about enhanced drug safety through good manufacturing processes and cooperation between industry and the FDA? Not recently. That's a shame because they're both important stories.
The president's nomination of Dr. Scott Gottlieb to be the next FDA commissioner likely portends a more holistic view of drug regulation. I served with Scott for two years at the agency. Not only is he a voice for greater regulatory predictability, he's also a silo-buster.
Having previously served as deputy commissioner, he understands the need for greater interdepartmental cooperation. In other words, it's not just about better utilization of expedited review pathways or better use of real-world data, or enhanced post-market surveillance, or more robust off-label communications. It's about making the process work for patients.
But manufacturing is all about process. Modernized pharmaceutical manufacturing isn't only about ensuring and enhancing quality for finished medicines, it's also about making America's pharmaceutical factories globally competitive players in the production of API (like Pfizer's plant in Kalamazoo) and excipients (the ingredients other than the API that are included in the manufacturing process or are contained in a finished pharmaceutical product.)
And the more complicated the drug, the more complicated the active pharmaceuticals and other ingredients. American know-how and dedication to GMPs present a wonderful opportunity for our domestic facilities to thrive. Quality manufacturing is our unique proposition vis-a-vis less expensive operations overseas.
FDA regulation of medicine manufacturing is also a crucial piece of the solution to preventing future drug shortages. According to a 2012 report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, by hastily ramping up manufacturing enforcement actions, the FDA "effectively shut down 30% of the total manufacturing capacity at four of the country's largest producers of generic injectable medications."
Resolving this problem will require the FDA to work with manufacturers to find practical, science-based solutions to quality-control issues that neither compromise safety nor slow down production. Regulatory discretion is often the better part of valor.
Enforcement of savvy manufacturing quality control is crucial, but an equally important (and often ignored) aspect of the FDA's mission is to advance America's pharmaceutical production acumen by being both regulator of and partner with industry.
That's a winning combination: the best and the brightest from industry and government together with the best production capabilities in the world. The keys to the kingdom are on the table.
Pitts, a former FDA associate commissioner, is president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
