Chinese pharmaceutical company WuXi AppTec has been involved in the development of one-fourth of the drugs recently used by Americans, with some members of Congress saying it’s a national security threat due to the company’s suspected ties to the Chinese government, according to The New York Times.
WuXi AppTec is the key maker of many main ingredients for therapies manufactured by large American pharmaceutical companies due to its ability to provide low-cost and reliable work in bulk, according to the NYT. Lawmakers have identified WuXi AppTec as a potential security threat due in part to its access to Americans’ genetic information as well as intellectual property, while also being suspected of cooperating with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). (RELATED: Biden’s Electric Vehicle ‘Mandate’ Might Just Be A Surprise Gift To China)
The company was linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army in a House bill called the Biosecure Act, which points to WuXi AppTec sponsoring military-civil events as well as receiving military-civil fusion funding, according to the NYT. Richard Connell, COO of WuXi AppTec’s U.S. and Europe operations, has admitted that the company does participate in community events, but denied any association with the Chinese government or its entities.
The current bill making its way through Congress to address WuXi’s heavy involvement in the American pharmaceutical industry has so far been watered down to protect existing contracts, limiting the effect of any decoupling measures, according to the NYT. The pharmaceutical industry is also undergoing a persistent drug shortage that has hit a 20-year high, making decoupling difficult.
Gotion Inc.’s chief tech officer Steven Cai was there when the Anhui CCP official set up an Overseas Chinese Work Station in @Gotion48660’s Cali HQ to “carry out Anhui province’s talent recruitment work” in June 2017.
See @DailyCaller’s report for more:https://t.co/7WmoemHnkI pic.twitter.com/5xAEK3m4my
— Philip Lenczycki 蔡岳 (@LenczyckiPhilip) April 7, 2024
“Everyone is likely considering moving away from WuXi and China more broadly,” Peter Kolchinsky, managing partner of RA Capital Management, which has around 200 biotech companies in its firm portfolio, said in an email, according to the NYT. “Even though the current versions of the bill don’t create that imperative clearly, no one wants to be caught flat-footed in China if the pullback from China accelerates.”
U.S. officials have also given millions of dollars worth of tax incentives to WuXi operations to build research manufacturing sites in Massachusetts and Delaware, according to the NYT.
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center previously warned about WuXi’s acquisition of American genomic data company NextCODE, which WuXi later spun off from its main operation, according to the NYT. Despite siloing that business, there are reportedly still overlaps with management and signs that the CCP has influence over WuXi.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reported that there were 323 active drug shortages in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2024, the highest number since 2004.
The CCP has broad discretion to intervene in Chinese companies, possibly giving the Chinese government access to Americans’ information who use the services provided by the companies. Several companies have been under fire for their relationship with the CCP, including Gotion Inc., a California-based subsidiary of Chinese battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech Co., which is planning to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan and Illinois, possibly receiving taxpayer funding.
WuXi AppTec did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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