TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Senator Rick Scott gathered a panel of Florida healthcare and pharmaceutical leaders at St. Joseph’s Hospital on Wednesday to target the nation’s heavy reliance on foreign-manufactured medications.
The discussion focused squarely on securing the domestic drug supply chain and increasing transparency for consumers regarding where their prescription medications are produced.
Scott, who serves as the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, emphasized that the lack of clear origin tracking presents a significant safety and security vulnerability for Americans.
“What we’re doing is saying ‘How can we make the drugs, that people are taking all across our state, safe?’” Scott said. “We don’t want to be dependent on another country that might withhold their drugs, and we want to make sure the things we are putting in our bodies are safe. When you buy clothing, you know where it’s made. When you buy a piece of produce at a grocery store, you know where it’s made. We need to know where our drugs are made.”
The meeting brought together high-level regional executives and medical professionals to pinpoint structural issues and brainstorm policy adjustments.
“Forums like these are really important because you get ideas,” Scott noted. “Ideas aren’t going to come out of the federal government; they’re going to come out of the people that are dealing with this every day.”
The roundtable panel included Pat Witmer of B. Braun Medical, Scott White from Belcher Pharmaceuticals, and Brian McMillan of Bravado Pharmaceuticals. Clinical and healthcare system perspectives were provided by Les Louden of BayCare Health System, Ken Komorny of the Moffitt Cancer Center, Nicholas W. Carris from the University of South Florida, and Zayne Smith representing AARP Florida.
The Tampa meeting follows legislative action taken by Scott earlier this year. In January 2026, he introduced the Consumer Labeling for Enhanced API Reporting and Legitimate Accountability for Base Entity Listings (CLEAR LABELS) Act.
The bill aims to mandate country-of-origin labels for prescription drugs. Currently, federal regulations do not require companies to publicly disclose where finished medications or their active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are manufactured. A large percentage of these components are currently sourced from overseas factories, primarily located in China and India.
According to committee background information, the proposed legislation stems from a broader investigative report and more than a dozen formal inquiries sent to federal agencies and industry stakeholders tracking the risks associated with a reliance on foreign-made generic drugs.
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