Phlow Corp. CEO Outlines Path to Pharmaceutical Sovereignty in Testimony Before U.S. Senate
Richmond, Virginia, Nov. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Phlow Corp., a leading American pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), announced today that its Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Eric S. Edwards, M.D., Ph.D., testified before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging during a full committee hearing titled “Made in America: Restoring Trust in Our Medicines.” The hearing examined the nation’s dependence on fragile foreign pharmaceutical supply chains and the persistent shortages of essential medicines affecting patients across the United States.
In his statement to the Committee, Dr. Edwards described drug shortages as ongoing crises unfolding daily in emergency rooms, ambulances, and operating suites. Across the country, clinicians are often forced to substitute unavailable medications with less effective or unfamiliar alternatives, increasing the risk of errors and patient harm. Drawing from his own experience as a volunteer paramedic, he noted that critical medicines such as epinephrine and several others have, at times, been unavailable during emergencies when every second matters.
Dr. Edwards reiterated that the United States remains heavily dependent on overseas manufacturers for more than 80 percent of its active pharmaceutical ingredients and many of the chemical precursors required to produce essential medicines. He urged Congress to treat Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing capacity as essential national health infrastructure, similar to recent federal efforts to strengthen domestic production of rare earth minerals. He noted that restoring America’s pharmaceutical sovereignty will require long-term, coordinated action across government and industry.
Phlow was established with a bold mission to restore domestic capability for medicine production and strengthen America’s pharmaceutical resilience. In partnership with the federal government, the company has built advanced pharmaceutical development and manufacturing infrastructure across its Richmond and Petersburg campuses in Virginia, supporting end-to-end API research, development, and manufacturing. Phlow has completed five API development programs, filed four Drug Master Files (DMFs), and was recently selected for the first-ever FDA Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher (CNPV) Pilot Program for its ketamine project, a designation that recognizes the company’s leadership in advancing secure, U.S.-based manufacturing of critical and life-changing medicines. Phlow continues to expand a growing portfolio of medicines through innovative, tech-enabled processes and modern manufacturing in the United States.
Phlow additionally helped conceive of, and build, the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient Reserve (SAPIR), which will maintain an inventory of domestically produced or allied-nation-sourced API building blocks to support rapid manufacturing during emergencies.
In his testimony, Dr. Edwards outlined several priorities necessary to strengthen the nation’s medicine supply chain, including a long-term national strategy for medicine security, procurement policies that reward reliability, multi-year contracts that provide predictable demand for domestic manufacturers, and action to close the Acetris loophole that allows federal purchasing of drugs whose critical components originate overseas. He emphasized that drug shortages are not inevitable but the product of choices, and that a sustained national commitment can build a safer, more resilient future for American patients.
“Phlow remains steadfast in its commitment to work with the federal government, private industry, and other healthcare partners to help restore pharmaceutical resilience in the United States,” said Edwards following the Committee hearing. “We’ve strategically built domestic, state-of-the-art manufacturing infrastructure that supports small molecule API development and scale-up manufacturing at both small and large clinical and commercial volumes. This active and integrated system serves as mission-critical national health infrastructure, designed to safeguard reliable access to essential medicines and pharmaceutical ingredients. And most importantly, it stands as proof that we can, and are, creating the future of how medicines are made on American soil.”
About Phlow Corp.
Phlow, a B Corporation, helps brilliant minds bring medicines to life through advanced development and manufacturing in America. Focused on innovations in drug substance development, Phlow supports government and private industry customers with scientific expertise, world-class manufacturing, and tech-enabled processes that move the industry toward a new standard as we create the future of how medicines are made. For more information, visit phlow-usa.com.
Leslie Strickler Etre Communications 8042128835 leslies@etrecommunications.com Paul Spicer Etre Communications 8045039231 pauls@etrecommunications.com
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