The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) recently joined more than a dozen other health groups in sending a letter to leaders of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) to convey their support of S.2723—The Mitigating Emergency Drug Shortages (MEDS) Act—which would help reduce drug shortages by addressing vulnerabilities in the drug supply chain. The letter urges the committee to quickly advance this important piece of legislation.  

The MEDS Act would provide the Food and Drug Administration additional authority to help mitigate drug shortages by developing market-based incentives that would ensure a stable supply of medications critical for patient care. In the wake of the COVID-19, or Coronavirus, outbreak, this piece of legislation is timelier than ever as the outbreak could lead to disruptions to supply or shortages of critical medical products.  

ASCO and the letter’s other signatories urge the Senate committee to consider prior disruptions to the drug supply chain, before there is another one, and advance the MEDS Act to proactively strengthen the nation’s drug supply chain. 

Read the letter.  

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