Should the federal government try to slow — or even block — U.S. biotech deals that could benefit China?
The question of what, if anything, the U.S. should do about the growing strength of the Chinese biotech industry has reached a new intensity in recent months. A handful of legislators are pushing to add biotechnology to the list of industries covered by the COINS Act, which allows the U.S. government to restrict investments in certain cases. That would enable federal scrutiny of licensing deals, equity investments, and other arrangements that are becoming evermore prevalent in the biotech industry.
Venture capitalist Julie Grant feels that would be shortsighted, a misguided effort to try to turn back time on an interdependency between U.S. and Chinese industries that’s been growing for decades. Even if it were feasible to cut off American companies’ reliance on Chinese research organizations and drug developers, she believes doing so would actually hamper U.S. drug development and hurt patients.