China’s biotech industry is only barely trailing — and in some areas, is already surpassing — America’s. China now initiates roughly the same number of clinical trials for novel drugs as the United States. Chinese biotechs are far outpacing their American competitors in the stock market.Hong Kong’s biotech index climbed about 80% last year, compared to the U.S. index’s 20% gain. And drugs originating in China are poised to account for over a third of FDA approvals by 2040.Recently, a bipartisan commission concluded that U.S. policymakers only have three years to firmly reestablish America’s biotech leadership — or “risk ceding profound military, geopolitical, and economic advantages to China.”
FOR SLASHING PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES, TRUMPRX MARKS THE SPOT
But rather than heed this warning, some U.S. lawmakers support legislation that would further expand the Trump administration’s most favored nation policy for drugs, a move that would not only chill critical research and development investments in the U.S., key to driving medical advances to address U.S. patient needs, but also chill economic growth and further R&D and manufacturing investments in the U.S.
The impacts would be far reaching given that the U.S. leads the world in the introduction of new medicines and supports almost 5 million jobs across the U.S. Instead of making other countries pay their fair share, importing drug pricing policies from countries that limit and often deny access to new medicines will only serve to hand China and other economies the opportunity to overtake the U.S. in terms of biomedical R&D and manufacturing and the introduction of new medicines. It’d all but guarantee that China ultimately dominates the global biotech sector — and thus weaken U.S. economic growth and undermine our national security.
