As large biopharma companies have increasingly turned to China for novel biotech innovation, political calls in the U.S. to block those deals have gotten louder. | Amid an intensifying debate over how Washington should counter China’s rapid ascent in the biotech sector, a growing chorus of policymakers and biotech insiders is urging the Treasury Department to expand the newly codified COINS Act to include biotechnology—a move that would extend outbound investment curbs to cross-border drug dealmaking.

The veteran investor says that the trove of ready-made prospects is making the global biotech ecosystem “more competitive” and steering dollars away from “half-baked ideas.”

As large biopharma companies have increasingly turned to China for novel biotech innovation, political calls in the U.S. to block those deals have gotten louder. | Amid an…