U.S. extreme anti-China lawmakers introduce another bill targeting China's biotech companies

Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives are set to jointly introduce a new bill that could significantly curb the booming cross-border transactions between American and Chinese biotechnology firms.

On Tuesday, Republican Congressman John Moolenaar, representing Michigan, and Democratic Congressman Debbie Dingell unveiled a proposed bill that would require the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to consider imposing stricter restrictions on U.S. foreign investments in China’s biotechnology sector. If ultimately passed, this would be one of the most protectionist measures taken by the U.S. government to prevent the surge in transactions between American and Chinese biotech enterprises—going further than the Biosecurity Act passed last December.

The proposed legislation, titled the "2026 Biotechnology Investment National Security Act," would include the biotechnology industry in the list of sectors subject to review by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for foreign investments. In a public letter last month, Moolenaar urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to add this sector to the review list.

According to reports, the bill would require the U.S. government to assess whether such investments pose national security risks and instruct the Treasury Secretary to consult with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence when implementing new regulations.

The primary focus will be on cross-border licensing agreements, joint ventures, and equity investments involving Chinese biotechnology companies. In an interview, Moolenaar specifically criticized Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb, two pharmaceutical giants that recently signed multi-target drug collaboration agreements with Chinese firms, calling these deals "dangerous transactions."

Moolenaar stated, "We need this legislation to subject pharmaceutical companies’ dealings with China to the same level of scrutiny we apply to our investments in China’s technology sector." The bill would cover nearly all areas of drug and biologic development. Agricultural technologies and "basic academic research not directly used for pharmaceuticals or treatments" would be excluded.

The bill would also require the U.S. Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress within 60 days after the bill’s passage, assessing whether these transactions could negatively impact U.S. national security. While the report itself would not be classified as secret, it may include "classified attachments."

Very few lawmakers have pushed as forcefully as Moolenaar to end these transactions. As Chairman of the House Select Committee on U.S.-China Strategic Competition, Moolenaar has increasingly voiced concerns about the rapid growth of China’s biotechnology industry and its related transactions following hearings earlier this year.

Before writing to Bessent, Moolenaar successfully pushed the House Appropriations Committee to include relevant provisions in the bill’s report, banning companies from including data from clinical studies conducted in China when submitting applications for new drugs to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Moolenaar’s efforts have sparked division within the U.S. biotechnology industry, which has previously profited substantially from acquiring assets in China at lower costs. Large pharmaceutical companies have actively sought collaborations with Chinese firms through massive R&D and licensing agreements worth billions of dollars, reshaping their product pipelines. Other venture capital and biotech firms have also obtained drug licenses from China and conducted clinical trials in the United States to meet FDA requirements.

Endpoints News reported that opponents of this legislative move argue that the only way to revitalize the U.S. pharmaceutical ecosystem is to streamline and accelerate the process for conducting faster, cheaper clinical trials in the United States. They emphasize that restricting the range of drugs available to American patients would be harmful.

Source: rfi

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1866897174513667/

Disclaimer: This article represents the views of the author alone