Exiger, the market-leading supply chain AI company, has officially published the findings, f from its investigation into U.S. healthcare supply chains, across a new report called A Bitter Pill: America’s Dangerous Dependence on China-Made Pharmaceuticals.
Going by the available details, this particular report would go onto risk-assess 2,309 companies, including drug manufacturers, packagers, labelers and suppliers, as well as 1,376 active pharmaceutical ingredients using its award-winning, AI-powered supply chain platform i.e. 1Exiger.
As for the results, they showcased patterns of severe quality control issues, including contamination and falsified testing data, deep dependencies on foreign drug manufacturers, and unethical international sourcing practices, including forced labor.
Talk about these findings on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how the report discovered that U.S. presently imports 75% of its essential medicines. This leaves American patients and healthcare systems exposed to disruptions from international conflicts, trade restrictions, pandemics, and natural disasters.
Next up, Exiger’s report dug into a piece of data claiming China and India dominate the global market, as they produce 60% of APIs. India, in particular, supplies about half of U.S. generic drugs yet depends on China for 80% of APIs.
On the other hand, China was deemed responsible for supplying 90% of the antibiotic APIs used throughout U.S. The stated data translates to an acute dependency that could be exploited in a geopolitical crisis. Making this all the more critical is a surge in U.S. imports of Chinese drug ingredients from 2020 to 2023.
Another detail worth a mention is rooted in the fact that, over 504 generic drugs, including 10 essential medicines, Exiger identified only a single API manufacturing country, heightening risks of supply shocks. This comes as systematic quality control failures were discovered to have impacted U.S. consumers. These failures include stuff like substandard and contaminated drugs.
Moving on, the company even learnt that more than 30% of all new import alerts were for sites in China, whereas on the other hand, 16% were for sites in India, conveying recurring manufacturing issues.
Exiger further got to know how pharmaceutical ingredients are actually attached with forced labor, posing ethical and legal issues. Such a reality, like you can guess, may potentially compromise the integrity and reputation of the entire supply chain.
Joining that would be a surge in Food and Drug Administration import, which stems from severe violations inclusive of Chinese (33%) and Indian (16%) manufacturers.
Hold on, we. still have a couple of bits left to unpack, considering we haven’t yet touched upon how top Medicaid prescription provider, who entertained 11 million prescriptions during 2024 and held almost a third of the antibiotics market share, were found to procure pharmaceutical ingredients from at least six China-based companies with allegations of forced labor. Some of the stated companies were even found to have links to China’s military.
Founded in, Exiger’s rise up the ranks stems from supplying supply chain risk technology to the U.S. Federal Government. Not just that, it is also the Preferred Cybersecurity & Risk Provider of the American Hospital Association, which represents nearly 5,000 hospitals, healthcare systems, networks, and providers across the country.
Exiger’s excellence in what it does can be understood once you consider the company’s clientele presently includes 150+ Fortune 500 companies, along with 65+ organizations across the Defense Industrial Base and government agencies,
“Exiger’s AI reveals America’s imbalanced dependencies on India and China for production of critical antibiotic, heart and diabetes drugs, and ties to Uyghur forced labor, compliance issues and quality failures,” said Brandon Daniels, CEO of Exiger. “Particularly in the midst of retaliatory tariffs and escalating geopolitical tensions, these findings have serious implications for safe and affordable healthcare in the U.S., especially Medicaid, and underscore the need for urgent protective measures like investments in supply chain transparency and diversification, strategic stockpiling and increased domestic production.”.
