Sending a Powerful Message About America’s Pharmaceutical Independence

On April 30th, 2024, the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Personnel, held a hearing about the Department Of Defense’s efforts to ensure service members would have access to safe, high-quality pharmaceuticals.

One of the panelists invited to testify was Victor Suarez, a retired Colonel from the United States Army. He worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) before becoming the Lead Vaccine Program Manager for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine during Operation Warp Speed (2020-2021). Today he is the Founder and Principal Growth Partner at Blu Zone Bioscience & Supply Chain Solutions, LLC.

In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner welcomes Victor to share his frank point of view on why today’s pharmaceutical supply chains are under strain:

• Why facilitating the market entry of generic drugs in 1984 led to the scarcity we face today 
• The surprising challenge (and importance) of defining “Made in the U.S.A.”
• The solution he sees as the most likely to succeed, especially given the reasonable investment associated with it

Links:

• Senate Hearing to Receive Testimony on the Department of Defense’s Efforts to Ensure Servicemembers’ Access to Safe, High-Quality Pharmaceuticals
• Victor Suarez on LinkedIn
• Kelly Barner on LinkedIn
• Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter 
• Art of Supply on AOP
• Subscribe to This Week in Procurement