Washington DC, May 22 — The chair of the US House Select Committee on China, Representative John Moolenaar, has asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to designate biotechnology as a prohibited technology under the proposed COINS Act of 2025. In a letter circulated by the committee, Moolenaar argued that the United States is locked in an intense competition with the People’s Republic of China in the field of biotechnology, and that medical innovation now sits at the center of national and economic security concerns.
The letter accuses China of pursuing a deliberate, state-directed strategy to seize leadership in global biotechnology, targeting drug discovery, biologics manufacturing, and clinical research and development capacity. Moolenaar warned that US capital flowing into Chinese biotech firms through licensing agreements, joint ventures, and equity investments is accelerating China’s rise up the pharmaceutical value chain.
As evidence, the committee cited roughly USD 136 billion in cross-border out-licensing transactions between American and other multinational pharmaceutical companies and Chinese biotech firms in 2025. It also noted that 48 percent of large global pharmaceutical licensing deals worth USD 50 million or more were signed with Chinese companies last year, compared with none in 2020, and said the trend remains on an upward trajectory.
Moolenaar urged the Treasury to subject biotechnology transactions to heightened scrutiny, specifically flagging pharmaceutical intellectual property licensing, drug discovery platforms, clinical R&D capabilities, and biologics manufacturing and commercialization know-how for potential restrictions under the COINS framework. The goal, he said, is to preserve US economic, technological, and military advantages over foreign adversaries.
The Select Committee on China, formally the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, was established in 2023 to examine strategic competition with China. This report is based on a syndicated feed from ANI and was published by The Tribune as received.
