A bipartisan House committee has revealed that American pharmaceutical companies carried out drug trials in conjunction with the Chinese military for more than 10 years.
The revelation came in a letter penned by Republican and Democratic leaders on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Robert Califf. In the letter, they pressed him to supply information about these clinical trials for new medications.
In their letter, they explained: “These collaborative research activities raise serious concerns that critical Intellectual Property is at risk of being transferred to the [Chinese military] or being co-opted under the People’s Republic of China’s National Security Law.”
They also expressed reservations about how much the results of clinical trials produced by China can be trusted.
The letter states that hundreds of clinical trials for drugs have been carried out at medical centers and hospitals in China that are affiliated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) at sites such as the PLA's Air Force Medical University and the PLA's General Hospital and Medical School.
One of the institutions is operated by the PLA's Academy of Military Medical Sciences, an institution which the Department of Commerce has banned businesses in the United States from sharing technology with due to national security concerns.
Potential experimentation on Uyghur Muslims
The letter also draws attention to the fact that some of these trials took place in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a place where China has been conducting genocide against the Muslims living there. Reports indicate that some have been subjected to organ harvesting, while female victims are routinely raped and sterilized in so-called “reeducation camps.”
As a result, it is impossible to determine whether those who participated in the trials did so willingly.
The committee’s letter notes: “Given this, we believe that U.S. biopharmaceutical entities could be unintentionally profiting from the data derived from clinical trials during which the CCP forced victim patients to participate.”
They are calling on the administration of President Joe Biden to carefully scrutinize these trials to protect our nation’s interests and the human rights of the Uyghurs.
"Given the historical suppression and medical discrimination against ethnic minorities in this region, there are significant ethical concerns around conducting clinical trials in (Xinjiang)," they cautioned.
The lawmakers posed a series of questions in their letter, including whether the FDA has ever reviewed clinical trials carried out in conjunction with the PLA or performed any on-site inspections of PLA facilities. They also ask how far back this practice goes and whether the FDA has ever notified an American biopharmaceutical firm that it carried out studies with the PLA.
They also asked the FDA to disclose the metrics it uses to assess the risks of intellectual property and technology transfers, giving them a deadline of Oct. 1 to respond.
One of the studies they focused on in their review of American clinical trials that included Chinese military hospital sites was for the Alzheimer's disease drug donanemab by Eli Lilly. Another was a study of a liver cancer drug by Pfizer known as Inlyta.
A representative from the Chinese embassy in Washington told Reuters that the “accusations of intellectual theft” are “groundless” and denied that the country is guilty of genocide in Xinjiang.
Vote expected next month on BIOSECURE Act
The letter comes as the House prepares for a vote on the BIOSECURE Act next month. Legislation was introduced earlier this year that proposes putting a stop to federal contracts with specific Chinese biotech firms that are believed to present a national security risk to the U.S. It will stop pharmaceutical companies from doing business with the firms in question, which could significantly compromise their bottom line.
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