Lawmakers Probe Drugmakers Over China Clinical Trials as U.S. Seeks to Counter Biotech Rise

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has opened national security investigations into whether five drugmakers, including Merck and AbbVie, have been involved in clinical trials conducted in China that helped fuel the country's military capability. The letters, led by Republican Representative John Moolenaar of Michigan, chair of the China Select Committee, ask the companies to provide by July 17 details of due diligence, data protection processes and other standards at their trial sites in China, particularly in the Xinjiang region and at military hospitals. The committee also sent letters to Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb.

Merck said patient safety and ethical integrity are priorities of its clinical research program and it follows all global guidelines. AbbVie declined to comment. Pfizer declined to comment beyond confirming it received the letter. Bristol and Lilly did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for China's embassy in the U.S. said there is “nothing credible” in the committee's actions and China opposes moves to politicize trade and tech issues.

The letters note that Xinjiang is the epicenter of Beijing's “genocide” targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities, and that Chinese researchers have documented lapses in securing informed consent from trial participants. The committee said that through a combination of regulatory reforms, state subsidies, and questionable ethics, China has transformed itself into the cheapest and fastest place in the world to run early-stage human drug trials.

New Jersey-based Merck has sponsored or collaborated on 224 clinical studies in China since 2005, including at least 31 trials in Xinjiang and 40 at medical centers and hospitals affiliated with China's military. Illinois-based AbbVie has sponsored or collaborated on more than 100 clinical studies in China since 2007, including at least 17 sites in Xinjiang and 16 at military centers. The letters say that while there is no evidence that either company has engaged in illegal activity or wrongdoing, conducting clinical trials in China exposes American companies to ethical and security risks, and that conducting research at PRC military hospitals puts the cutting-edge biotechnology intellectual property of American companies at potential risk of being transferred to the Chinese military.

The investigations are the latest sign of growing U.S. government concern over China's role in the biotech industry. The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology warned in a December report that China has systematically built a vertically integrated biotechnology ecosystem that is now in prime position to challenge U.S. leadership. Global drugmakers signed a record $138 billion worth of deals in 2025 to license Chinese experimental medicines. By 2024, the U.S. share of global early drug development programs had dropped to around 37% from 48% in 2015, while China's share rose to over 32% from 8%, according to a Georgetown University study.

A recent survey of senior U.S. leaders in industry and academia, conducted by Cure Innovation Index, found that China, which now conducts more clinical drug trials than the U.S., still lags in the quality and commercial reach of its biomedical science. China is seen as the clear leader in two out of six sectors: clinical development and supply chain. The U.S. leads in moving experimental products through to large-scale production, capital, commercialization and talent, and the countries were viewed as tied in scientific discovery. “The U.S. is still leading, but confidence is eroding. Most said they see China as an existential threat,” said the CEO of Cure, an affiliate of investment firm Deerfield Management. Of the 117 respondents, 85% said the U.S. lead will last 10 years or less. The findings were presented in San Diego at the annual meeting of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

The U.S. accounted for 53% of the global pharmaceutical market in 2025, up from 49% in 2021, according to IQVIA, while Europe's share was steady at 24% and the Asia-Pacific region dipped to 11% from 13%. The survey's other major finding was that respondents rated the growing threat of U.S. research funding cuts as a bigger concern than competition from China. The CEO said the U.S. has all of the right ingredients, but the way it has been funding probably needs to change, and more needs to be done to secure financing at the National Institutes of Health and modernize the nation's clinical development infrastructure, which has not been addressed since the nearly 50-year-old Bayh-Dole Act.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched a department-wide clinical trials reform initiative aimed at accelerating drug development, reducing unnecessary regulatory burden and reinforcing the USA's position in global biomedical research. The effort, announced Monday by the HHS Secretary, includes measures intended to shorten the path from drug identification to first-in-human Phase I studies, improve coordination across federal agencies and support wider use of newer trial methods and digital tools.

Moolenaar is also sponsoring a bipartisan bill, the Biotech Investment National Security Act, that would amend last year's Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act to add biotech to a list of screened technologies and require outbound U.S. biotechnology licensing deals, joint ventures and equity investments in China to be subject to strict national security review. The Biosecure Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump late last year, restricts federal agencies' business dealings with non-U.S. biotechnology companies.