House Committee Requests DOJ Review of Group Lobbying Against Chinese Biotech Ban Act

The Home Choose Committee on the Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP) has requested the Division of Justice to evaluation a D.C.-based commerce group that allegedly lobbies on behalf of a CCP-linked biotech firm.

“BIO’s advocacy on behalf of WuXi AppTec raises considerations that it’s working as an unregistered agent of a international principal whereas advancing the pursuits of the Folks’s Republic of China (PRC) authorities and the Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP),” Mr. Gallagher wrote.

Mr. Gallagher mentioned BIO Chief Government Officer Rachel King despatched a letter to the leaders of the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee in January to advocate in opposition to the invoice.

“BIO has undertaken a current advocacy marketing campaign in opposition to the BIOSECURE Act (H.R.7805), which I launched in January 2024,” Mr. Gallagher wrote. “The BIOSECURE Act is meant to dam international adversary biotechnology firms from accessing federal funds and exploiting the American bioeconomy.”

In January, in her letter to senators sponsoring the invoice, Ms. King mentioned the laws would “do untold injury to the drug growth provide chain each for remedies at present accepted and on [the] market in addition to for growth pipelines a long time within the making.”

“In sidestepping the substantive considerations raised by a gaggle of bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers concerning WuXi Apptec and its in depth international adversary authorities and navy ties, Ms. King is making an attempt to misrepresent WuXi Apptec as a benign entity,” Mr. Gallagher continued.

The report additionally reveals that WuXi AppTec had obtained funding from quite a few PLA funds, together with the AVIC Army-Civil Integration Chosen Hybrid Securities Funding Fund.

“BIO’s advocacy on behalf of WuXi Apptec—meant to guard the corporate’s entry and industrial ties in the USA regardless of the chance to U.S. nationwide safety—is aligned with the pursuits of the CCP and the Folks’s Republic of China authorities,” Mr. Gallagher mentioned.

Mr. Gallagher then requested the Division of Justice to temporary his committee inside 30 days on how the Overseas Brokers Registration Act applies to WuXi AppTec’s lobbying actions. Moreover, he’s searching for data on potential legislative options that might compel firms advocating for Chinese language military-linked entities to register as international brokers.

WuXi AppTec has a number of workplaces, manufacturing amenities, and labs in the USA, together with Philadelphia, Boston, Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco, and New Jersey.

In early 2022, the Division of Commerce added its subsidiary Wuxi Biologics to its unverified listing, which requires U.S. suppliers to do in depth due diligence. Nevertheless, Commerce eliminated the corporate from the listing in late 2022.

The Epoch Occasions has reached out to BIO for remark.

The Related Press contributed to this report.