The BIOSECURE Act, which seeks to protect U.S. national security from Chinese biotech companies, will not be part of the House of Representatives vote on the 2025 fiscal year National Defense Authorization Act.
The House Rules Committee on Tuesday left the BIOSECURE Act out of the final list of amendments to be discussed for inclusion in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025.
Of the nearly 1,400 amendments filed, the House Rules Committee settled on 350 amendments, which House members will discuss and vote on to identify the final items to be included in the annual defense authorization bill. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is a bicameral agreement that specifies the budget and spending for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), along with other House members from across the political aisle, introduced the BIOSECURE Act for inclusion in the NDAA. However, during the House Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday, neither Democratic nor Republican members backed the amendment for the NDAA vote.
First introduced in January 2024 by Reps. Krishnamoorthi and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), the BIOSECURE Act lays down legal groundwork to guarantee that “foreign adversary biotech companies” that pose a threat to national security “do not gain access to U.S. taxpayer dollars.”
The BIOSECURE Act explicitly targets Chinese biotechs that are allegedly connected with their government. The initial bill named four companies of concern—WuXi AppTec, Beijing Genomics Institute, Complete Genomics and MGI. The latest draft has been amended to explicitly identify WuXi Biologics—and would prevent biopharma companies that work with these entities to also work with the U.S. government.
In May 2024, Krishnamoorthi and Wenstrup introduced a new draft of the BIOSECURE Act, which included a grandfather clause that gave leeway to existing contracts with China-based companies until January 1, 2032.
If passed into law, the BIOSECURE Act will have extensive implications for the industry. Many pharma companies rely on China-based contract manufacturers for their products. These include Merck, Iovance Biotherapeutics and Kyverna Therapeutics, which in April 2024 detailed how the fallout from the bill could affect their programs.
In addition to manufacturing, the BIOSECURE Act could also affect the industry’s lobby efforts in Washington. In March 2024, trade group Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and WuXi AppTec parted ways following pressure from Gallagher.
BIO has since affirmed its support for the bill, which its CEO John Crowley in a May 2024 statement argued “reinforces the national security imperative of the biotechnology industry as a critical strategic asset” of the U.S. The new draft “provides a reasonable timeframe for companies to decouple their reliance on China-based biomanufacturing” and ensures that the transition will not disrupt critical biomedical research, according to Crowley.
The BIOSECURE Act could also lead to an investor relations crisis as investors pull out of China-based companies en masse, as part of their risk management strategies.
Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.
