Speaking to media on Tuesday, BIO CEO John Crowley complimented China’s rise as a biotech powerhouse but said U.S. policy needs to protect and maintain America’s lead.
China’s plan to become a powerhouse biotech innovator has been executed well, BIO CEO John Crowley said Tuesday. The challenge for the U.S. now is to step in and eliminate the “inescapable dependencies” that are being layered into the biotech ecosystem.
“It’s not like it’s a secret plan from the Chinese Communist Party. They’ve been very clear over multiple five-year plans now that they intend to be the world’s leading country in biotechnology, and they want it for the same reasons that we want to maintain and advance our lead,” Crowley said in an address to media at the BIO International Convention in San Diego.
The BIOSECURE Act, which was signed into law late last year, restricts contracts with certain Chinese companies of concern. WuXi AppTec, a widely used contract, research, development and manufacturing organization, was added to the group of blacklisted companies by the Pentagon. At the BIO 2026 Convention in San Diego, the impacts of the law on the biopharma industry were top of mind.
“I do worry about unintended consequences and effectiveness of trying to put bans in place,” Crowley said. “You worry about, frankly, distraction from the real issues, which is, how do we outcompete? How do we reform our system to be more competitive?”
Crowley was complimentary to what China has accomplished but stressed that the U.S. needs to stay on top.
“They’ve provided very great science, great services. We need to make sure, though, that we don’t fall into the trap of what they’re trying to create, which are these inescapable dependencies, where more and more we become dependent,” Crowley said.
While the intent of the BIOSECURE Act is to restrict some Chinese companies as a matter of national security, Crowley said that the goal is not to restrict patient access to breakthroughs. He acknowledged “the ethical concerns of trying to restrict access to what could be life-saving technology.”
The matter is getting plenty of attention in the highest levels of government, with BIO “perfectly aligned” with the work going on around BIOSECURE. The advocacy group has been meeting with the Treasury Department and lobbying on Capitol Hill.
“I will tell you, in my years in Washington, I have never seen as bipartisan an issue of this, where people have come together and said biotechnology is a national strategic asset for the United States,” Crowley said. “We need to advance, maintain our lead here.”
