Imaging groups urge Trump administration to exempt radiopharmaceuticals, medical isotopes from tariffs
Medical societies representing radiologists, cardiologists, radiation oncologists and others are urging the Trump administration to exempt radiopharmaceuticals from tariffs, or at least delay such changes to a later date.
Six physician professional associations recently made their case in a letter to Howard Lutnick, secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce. They noted that nuclear medicine, “widely used across the U.S. to diagnose and treat patients,” relies heavily on radiopharmaceuticals and medical isotopes from elsewhere.
The American College of Radiology, American College of Cardiology, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and others are asking the administration to carve out exemption. ASNC also promoted the letter in a news update sent to its members on Monday. The six groups said they “generally support” the president’s push to ensure domestic availability of pharmaceuticals and related ingredients.
“However, Section 232 tariffs or trade restrictions could significantly raise healthcare costs and jeopardize patient access—especially for radiopharmaceuticals and medical isotopes that have no domestic supplier,” ACR, ACC, ASNC, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging wrote to Lutnick on July 17. “The U.S. remains heavily reliant on foreign sources for key medical isotopes.”
For instance, about 80% of diagnostic nuclear medicine procedures require technetium-99m, the groups noted, which is produces from molybdenum-99. But all Mo-99 is currently produced overseas by “long-established” research reactors and processors in Europe, South Africa and Australia. Congress passed the American Medical Isotope Production Act in 2012 to address this through cost-sharing and national lab resources. Yet still, no domestic supply of Mo-99 exists, “due to persistent high costs and strict regulatory barriers.” Besides Mo-99, U.S. providers also rely on foreign countries for other radiopharmaceuticals, medical isotopes and ingredients.
“As a result, the supply chain remains fragile and subject to disruptions from geopolitical instability, trade restrictions, or unplanned outages,” the groups wrote. “These challenges are compounded by dependencies on specialized international equipment without which U.S.-based radiopharmaceutical production cannot operate.”
Experts with the six societies are “deeply concerned” tariffs or trade restrictions on these materials and equipment could result in increased costs, delays in testing and a “disproportionate” impact on Medicare beneficiaries. “Given these concerns,” they’re asking the administration to exclude or defer tariffs on radiopharmaceuticals, medical isotopes, active pharmaceutical ingredients, precursors and related equipment until an “adequate” domestic supply is achieved. They also want continued collaboration with stakeholders to strengthen domestic production, along with developing a national strategy for “radiopharmaceutical supply chain security.”
“Our organizations remain committed to the administration’s goal of building a resilient, secure pharmaceutical supply chain,” the letter concludes. “We welcome the opportunity to further engage with the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies to ensure that critical diagnostic and therapeutic procedures remain accessible to patients in every community.”
The American College of Cardiology and American Society of Nuclear Cardiology also wrote a similar letter to the administration in May.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.