Trump Signs Order to Ensure Supply Chain for Essential Medicines

President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ensuring a "resilient" supply chain for essential medicines in the U.S. by filling the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR) with critical drug components, the White House said on Wednesday.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response within the Department of Health and Human Services is tasked with developing a list of about 26 critical drugs vital to "national health and security," the White House said in a fact sheet.

"The Order directs the Office ... to ready the SAPIR repository to receive and maintain the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) used to make these critical drugs."