China’s biopharma industry has strong ties around the world. In the last week alone, Merck. & Co. inked a $3.3 billion licensing deal with China-based LaNova Medicines to develop and commercialize an investigational cancer therapy. Meanwhile, Germany’s BioNTech acquired Biotheus, an oncology-focused Chinese biotech, for $800 million.

As the web of the global pharma industry becomes increasingly interwoven, removing a few specific threads creates a complicated challenge. But that’s exactly what the Biosecure Act could force upon U.S. companies. Aimed at shoring up security and IP threats from China, the bill, which is idling in Congress, would require American companies to stop doing business with five key Chinese biotechs. 

And now, like almost everything in Washington, D.C., its future is up in the air as a new Trump administration prepares to take over the White House. Trump often talks a tough game against China, but the Biosecure Act could still languish in legislative limbo for some time. Today, we’re diving into the Biosecure Act’s potential paths forward to find out why.

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