Moolenaar Calls to Restrict American Investment in China’s Biotechnology Companies

Chairman John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China has sent a letter to Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent urging him to add biotechnology as a prohibited technology under the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act of 2025. The request comes in response to a dangerous surge of American capital and knowledge into China’s biotechnology sector, including Bristol Myers Squibb’s recently announced $15 billion deal with China’s Hengrui Pharma that also transfers intellectual property to China.

“The United States is engaged in a fierce biotechnology competition with the PRC, with crucial implications for our national and economic security…The development of innovative medicines is now at the heart of this biotechnology competition” writes Chairman Moolenaar. “China has pursued a deliberate, state-directed strategy to dominate global biotechnology, including pharmaceutical development, biologics manufacturing, and clinical research and development capabilities.”

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“United States capital flowing to Chinese biotechnology companies through licensing agreements, joint ventures, and equity investments is fueling China’s strategy, aiding it in its rapid ascent up the pharmaceutical value chain,” Moolenaar continues. “Cross-border out-licensing transactions between American and other multinational pharmaceutical firms and Chinese biotechnology firms totaled approximately $136 billion in 2025. Last year, 48% of all large pharmaceutical licensing deals globally of $50 million or more were inked with Chinese companies, up from 0% in 2020, and this trend is continuing to accelerate.” 

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“I appreciate your leadership in ensuring that the United States maintains its economic, technological, and military dominance over foreign adversaries, and I respectfully recommend that the Treasury Department cover biotechnology as a prohibited technology through the implementation of the COINS Act as soon as possible. In doing so, I urge Treasury to give particular consideration to transactions involving the licensing of pharmaceutical IP, drug discovery platforms, clinical research and development capabilities, and biologics manufacturing and commercialization know-how,” concludes Moolenaar.

Read the full letter here.