July 28, 2020 – Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY) received a $765 million loan from the Trump administration under the Defense Production Act, the first of its kind. The loan will be used to launch a business that will make pharmaceutical ingredients to help expedite domestic production of drugs that can treat a variety of medical conditions with the express aim of loosening the U.S. reliance on foreign sources.
“Never again do we want to rely on shipments from China or elsewhere in order to get lifesaving medical supplies,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
Kodak, which has a long history of manufacturing chemicals used in photographic film, now plans to support “America’s self-sufficiency in producing the key pharmaceutical ingredients we need to keep our citizens safe,” Kodak’s executive chairman, Jim Continenza, said in a statement.
The Trump administration previously used these powers to demand that Ford Motor Co. begin manufacturing respirators and masks and that General Motors Co. make ventilators.
The administration also awarded $354 million to Phlow Corp. in May to start producing active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), among other chemical ingredients, used in certain essential medications. A spokesperson for Phlow said the company can’t disclose the list of drugs, but that the list includes treatments for pain and blood pressure that can be used by patients hospitalized for COVID-19. The total contract is worth up to $812 million…