National Centers of Excellence in Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Act of 2020

Floor Speech

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4866, the National Centers of Excellence and Continuous Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Act introduced by Chairman Pallone and Representative Guthrie.

This legislation would direct the FDA to designate higher education institutions as national centers of excellence, allowing the FDA to work with the centers and industry to create a national framework for implementation of continuous manufacturing technology.

Last October, the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on safeguarding the pharmaceutical supply chain. At this hearing, Dr. Janet Woodcock, Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, spoke at length about the advantages of advanced manufacturing technology, such as continuous manufacturing.

This included the potential to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of active pharmaceutical ingredients, increase our manufacturing resiliency, and reduce quality issues that often trigger drug shortages. Increased adoption of these technologies could open the door to a revived U.S. manufacturing base and lower production costs, resulting in lower drug prices and a more stable drug supply.

Given the potential this technology holds, I am pleased we are moving forward with this bipartisan legislation to further advance this development. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. GIANFORTE. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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