Lawmakers and some investors are warning about the growing reliance of US pharmaceutical companies on China, raising the prospect of national security restrictions on investments in Chinese biotechs.Pfizer has become the latest US drug giant to announce an agreement with a Chinese biotech to work together on medicines. Pfizer said on Thursday it would pay $650mn to Suzhou-based Innovent Biologics for several cancer drugs. The deal is worth up to $10.5bn to Innovent if commercial and regulatory targets are hit.
The deal adds to increasing anxiety in the US about the pharmaceutical sector’s shopping spree in China. In other industries such as cars, western companies are increasingly reliant on Chinese technology to make vehicles. Earlier this month, the US Chamber of Commerce warned that countries are running out of time to counteract China’s push into global supply chains.
Now the pharmaceutical sector is being pulled into the fray. On May 21, Republican congressman John Moolenaar asked Treasury secretary Scott Bessent to include biotechnology in a 2025 national security law aimed at restricting US investment into countries including China.