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# Can Trump Stimulate U.S. Drug Manufacturing Investment?
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/can-trump-stimulate-u-s-drug-manufacturing-investment/
- Published: 2017-04-10T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T22:16:52.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5138408

Will President Trump’s “America First’ mantra lead to a resurgence in pharmaceutical manufacturing investments in the U.S.? That is the hope of some FDA watchers writing in a *Morning Consult* [op-ed](https://morningconsult.com/opinions/trump-fda-can-create-pharmaceutical-manufacturing-renaissance/?ref=fdaweb.com) that offers advice on how to spur innovation in domestic manufacturing that could lead to potentially cheaper medicines for patients.

Written by former FDAers **Ajaz Hussain** and **Peter Pitts**, and National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education executive director **Vadim Gurvich**, the op-ed offers some points to consider in “efficiently catalyzing a renaissance of a technologically modern, efficient, high quality, and profitable pharmaceutical manufacturing in the United States.” Among other issues, they emphasize that:

1. Generic drugs must be part of the conversation. To encourage U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing and for it to become a contributing factor in reducing drug costs, Trump and FDA must include generics in their “efforts and policy cogitations and actively confront critical assumptions about pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
2. Quality counts. “An often unchallenged assumption is that pharmaceutical manufacturing is but a stepchild to discovery and development. And the truth is that manufacturing does not attract a CEO’s attention, except when there’s a serious problem. You only need to look at the *Wall Street Journal*’s Sept. 3, 2003, article which clearly described this challenge: ‘[The pharmaceutical industry has a little secret: Even as it invents futuristic new drugs, its manufacturing techniques lag far behind those of potato-chip and laundry soap makers.](https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10625358403931000?ref=fdaweb.com)’”
3. Regulatory burdens are real. “[Innovation and continual improvement in pharmaceutical manufacturing](https://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/04/briefing/2004-4080b1%5F01%5FmanufSciWP.pdf?ref=fdaweb.com) are hard to accomplish because of a risk-averse mindset, which is deeply ingrained in the industry. A sustained high level of ‘regulatory uncertainty’ — i.e., fear of delay in the FDA approval process, is responsible for this undesirable mindset. We believe that the president’s direct involvement with pharmaceutical CEOs is perhaps the most powerful means to change both the perception and the reality of the FDA as a partner, rather than sea anchor to domestic manufacturing innovation.”
4. Science matters and it is needed to facilitate sensible regulatory reforms. “The 21st Century Cures Act has recognized the need to support academic programs to build technological solutions such as continuous manufacturing of drugs and biological products and similar innovative monitoring and control techniques.”