Moolenaar, Dingell Introduce Legislation to Prevent Offshoring Biotech Industry to China
Today, Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the Select Committee on China and Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI) introduced the Biotech Investment National Security Act (BINSA). This legislation would ensure American investment in adversary biotechnology is subject to the review requirements of the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act. This would apply to biotechnology, including pharmaceutical development, biologics manufacturing, and clinical research and development.
"This legislation will protect research, innovation, and the medicines Americans depend on. Right now, American companies including Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb are making dangerous deals with Chinese biotech companies that threaten the future of American pharmaceutical production. We must not allow American investment, expertise, and technology to offshore our biotech industry, hand Chinese companies another chokehold over our economy, and hollow out our nation’s research infrastructure,” said Moolenaar. “We need to pass this legislation and subject drug companies’ deals with China to the same scrutiny we apply to investment in China’s tech sector. Otherwise, China will continue taking American innovation, and use it to bankrupt our businesses and industries, while building supply chains in its favor.”
“Biotechnology will shape the future of medicine, agriculture, manufacturing, and national security. This legislation is important because it will ensure that American investment does not inadvertently support the development or expansion of biotechnology industries that could threaten our economic and national security interests. The United States must remain the global leader in innovation, and we cannot afford to be dependent on foreign competitors – like the People’s Republic of China – for critical pharmaceutical ingredients, drug development, and medical supply chains. Strengthening America’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries will help protect patients, create jobs, and safeguard our nation’s health and security,” said Dingell.
What the Bill Does
· Amends the COINS Act of 2025 to add biotechnology — specifically pharmaceutical and biological product development — to the list of sectors subject to outbound investment screening.
· Makes U.S. pharmaceutical licensing deals, joint ventures, and equity investments with Chinese covered foreign persons subject to Treasury Department review.
· Explicitly covers licensing deals involving technology and intellectual property.
· Directs Treasury to issue implementing regulations within one year, consulting HHS, DOD, and the Director of National Intelligence.
· Requires the Secretary of Defense to assess within 60 days whether U.S. capital flows into Chinese biotechnology negatively affect national security and military readiness.
· Explicitly excludes agricultural biotechnology, industrial fermentation, and basic academic research.
Background
Last month, Moolenaar wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and stressed the need to restrict American investment in Chinese biotech companies. The United States accounts for 64 to 78 percent of worldwide pharmaceutical profits. It is critical the U.S. adopt a comprehensive policy approach that ensures our biotechnology sector is not offshored to China while footing the bill for the world. Companies attempting to arbitrage U.S. regulation through third-country transactions should be heavily scrutinized.
China's pharmaceutical sector is rising on two tracks: its own state-directed investment in domestic drug discovery, and an accelerating flow of U.S. capital, molecules, and know-how that is supercharging that rise. Cross-border licensing transactions totaled approximately $136 billion in 2025 — up from less than $5 billion in 2020 — with U.S. companies moving beyond simple licensing into full co-development, transferring drug discovery platforms and biologics manufacturing know-how to entities under CCP direction and control. Bristol Myers Squibb, for example, recently announced a $15.2 billion co-development deal for early-stage molecules including the sharing of IP and know-how from BMS to China’s Hengrui Pharmaceuticals.
China has also built the world's cheapest and fastest clinical trial system — marred by documented ethical violations including lack of informed consent, forced medical testing on Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and trials at PLA military hospitals where sensitive biotech IP is at direct risk of military exploitation. The FDA's continued acceptance of data from these uninspected sites creates a perverse incentive for American companies to route early-stage development through China.
BINSA builds on the BIOSECURE Act and complements report language Moolenaar secured in the 2027 appropriations bill for the Food and Drug Administration prohibiting FDA from accepting Chinese clinical trial data to support U.S. drug applications.
A copy of the legislation is available here.