AdvaMed Calls for Renewed Effort to Sustain and Strengthen COVID Test Manufacturing
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, AdvaMed President and CEO Scott Whitaker issued a statement following the White House’s announcement that the federal government’s COVID-19 response would be reduced in the coming weeks without additional funding from Congress:
“Now is the time to take concrete steps to sustain our nation’s continued capacity to respond to this and future phases of the pandemic, including by strengthening COVID test manufacturing in the United States. Access to lab-based and point-of-care, including over-the-counter testing remains an essential tool in our response to this pandemic. As Omicron recedes, demand for testing has dropped precipitously, but the rise of the Delta variant last summer revealed the consequences of allowing manufacturing capacity to diminish. Should we face another wave of cases, we must be prepared to meet the needs of patients and public health, and we cannot do that without firm public-private commitments in place with test manufacturers.
“Our industry is fully committed to continuing to work with the Biden Administration and Congress to ensure meaningful policies to sustain manufacturing capacity are swiftly put in place. Reflecting our long-standing policy requests of the White House and Congress, today AdvaMed submitted formal comments to the Administration’s recent RFI on how capacity should be sustained. In the comments, AdvaMed outlined opportunities for the federal government to partner with our industry, including through policies such as warm-base manufacturing arrangements, leveraging the Strategic National Stockpile through vendor-managed inventory, and providing a framework to address future health emergencies.”
Last month, the White House released a Request for Information on policies to sustain diagnostic test manufacturing for COVID-19. In comments sent to the Administration today, AdvaMed reiterated various policy requests the organization has made to policymakers and lawmakers. Read the full response here.
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AdvaMed member companies produce the medical devices, diagnostic products and health information systems that are transforming health care through earlier disease detection, less invasive procedures and more effective treatments. AdvaMed members range from the largest to the smallest medical technology innovators and companies. For more information, visit www.advamed.org.