ASPR Invests $8.3 Million to Expand U.S. Production of Essential Hospital Medicines

Investment will establish the first end-to-end domestic supply chain for metoprolol in decades

The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), awarded an additional $8.3 million to the API Innovation Center (APIIC) to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) propofol—an injectable sedative used for anesthesia and intensive care unit sedation—and metoprolol, a medication used to treat cardiovascular conditions such as arrhythmias and hypertension and to reduce lung inflammation in intensive care settings. Both medications are included on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) List of Essential Medicines, Medical Countermeasures, and Critical Inputs.

The United States has historically relied on overseas suppliers, including manufacturers in Asia and Europe, for many essential medicines—creating strategic vulnerabilities in the health care supply chain. With about 90% of cardiovascular medications used in the United States manufactured in India or China, this investment will establish the first end-to-end domestic supply chain for metoprolol in decades while expanding U.S. capacity to produce other critical hospital medicines.

“A resilient health care system requires strong domestic manufacturing,” said John Knox, principal deputy assistant secretary for ASPR. “This investment will support expansion of U.S. production of critical medicines used every day in surgical, intensive care, and cardiovascular settings, while advancing innovative manufacturing technologies that improve our ability to respond during public health emergencies.”

Under the expanded agreement, APIIC – a St. Louis, Missouri-based non-profit that addresses national health security and generic drug reshoring challenges by convening public-private partnerships through its consortium network – will continue its work to modernize manufacturing capacity across multiple sites within its consortium network. Project partners, including Sentio BioSciences and Par Health (formerly Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals), are examples of companies deploying continuous flow manufacturing and other advanced processes to establish end-to-end supply chains for critical molecules essential for national health security.

Unlike traditional pharmaceutical manufacturing, which produces medicines in discrete batches, continuous flow manufacturing moves materials through a streamlined, uninterrupted production process. This approach enables faster scale-up or scale-down to meet changing demand, making it well suited for responding to public health emergencies and supply disruptions.

This award builds on IBMSC’s September 2024 investment of $14 million to APIIC to support domestic production of three critical APIs used to treat asthma, hypertension, and anxiety disorders. With today’s announcement, total federal investment in APIIC now exceeds $22 million to strengthen U.S. manufacturing of essential medicines.

These awards were made through the Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Preparedness Consortium (BioMaP-Consortium), managed by Advanced Technologies International under a cooperative agreement with ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). The investment builds on ongoing efforts to strengthen domestic biopharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities.

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