How to Counter China’s Secret Weapon

BREITBART

Chinese companies account for nearly a third of drugs currently in development, and China recently surpassed the United States in conducting clinical trials. By 2040, China is projected to be responsible for over a third of new FDA approvals.

If one of those trials produces a life-saving breakthrough – like a cancer cure or pandemic vaccine – China could hold it hostage to extract concessions from the United States. America can’t afford that risk. We need to build a biotech sector that can outcompete China and not depend on it.

Our first step should be to end the foreign free-riding that is steadily undermining America’s biotech sector.

For decades, wealthy nations have used price controls to suppress what they pay for innovative medicines. As a result, drugmakers struggle to recoup the massive costs of research and development – which often exceed $2.6 billion for just one new drug – and are forced to shift much of that burden onto the U.S. market.

That has produced a global imbalance. America drives the lion’s share of pharmaceutical innovation, but American patients pay far more than foreign ones for the same drugs.

That imbalance isn’t just unfair. It adds to America’s biotech vulnerability. When foreign governments underpay for U.S.-invented medicines, they effectively drain revenue from American innovators, preventing these companies from investing in the research and manufacturing capacity needed to outpace China.

The United States must demand that trading partners pay their fair share. It should start by launching a Section 301 investigation into other countries’ abusive drug pricing practices. That would immediately signal that Washington is serious about ending free-riding and unlock a broader suite of trade enforcement tools to bring foreign countries to the negotiating table.

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