US politicians have intensified their opposition to China’s biotech industry, with Congressmen and Senators sending a letter to the White House Administration, directly calling for sanctions against WuXi AppTec (SHA: 603259) and its affiliate WuXi Biologics (HKG: 2269). As reported by Reuters, the letter was signed by four lawmakers: Congressmen Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi, and Senators Gary Peters and Bill Hagerty.
The letter, citing publicly available information, alleges that WuXi AppTec has “clear military ties,” including investments from numerous People’s Liberation Army (PLA) funds, such as the AVIC Military-Civil Integration Selected Hybrid Securities Investment Fund. The lawmakers also highlight that WuXi Biologics CEO Chen Zhisheng listed his resume on a Tsinghua University website in 2018, revealing his past role as a visiting professor at China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences, an institution added to the US Commerce Department’s export control list in 2021.
Addressed to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the letter suggests that WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics have obscured their ties to the CCP and PLA, integrating themselves into US supply chains through agreements with prominent US biotech entities. The authors urge the departments to consider including WuXi AppTec and its subsidiaries on control lists, referring to sanctions under the Treasury’s Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, the Commerce list restricting US sales to named entities, and the Pentagon’s “1260H” list, which carries implicit warnings about US cooperation with certain firms.
This news echoes similar accusations in the proposed “Biosecure Act” introduced by a bipartisan House Select Committee in January 2023. WuXi AppTec previously responded to that bill with a written statement on its website, expressing concern over a “misguided US legislative initiative to target our company without a fair and transparent review of the facts.”
In response to the latest developments, WuXi issued two statements to the Shanghai Stock Exchange this week, emphasizing that WuXi AppTec provides pharmaceutical research and development contract research outsourcing (CRO) services, “does not have a human genomics business and does not collect human genome data in its various existing businesses.” The firm’s focus is on “the discovery and development of new, life-saving medicines” and to “empowering the global pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.” WuXi AppTec has passed multiple US government reviews in the past and described the claims in the US lawmakers’ letter as “misleading and inaccurate assertions suggesting prejudicial actions against our company without due process.” The company welcomes further government reviews, asserting that “WuXi AppTec has not, does not, and will not pose a national security risk to the United States,” and any future review will reach the same conclusion.- Flcube.com
