Shortages of the simple, over-the-counter painkiller acetaminophen this spring have set off alarms in the U.S. and around the world. Disruptions in medical supply chains during the coronavirus pandemic show how dependent countries have become on China for vital pharmaceutical supplies, the WSJ’s Chuin-Wei Yap reports, triggering a concerted effort to revamp production channels that have been built up over years. Fixing what many officials and corporate executives believe is a major problem would mean reaching deep into supply chains for what are known as active pharmaceutical ingredients, the chemicals that give drugs their medicinal properties. Many of these are commodity chemicals that U.S. makers found unprofitable to produce. China makes nearly half the planet’s API, making it a powerhouse in drug production. U.S. manufacturers that had turned to cost-saving lean inventory strategies were left exposed when China pulled back production as it coped with the pandemic.

– Bob