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A year after a congressional commission urged strategic action to prevent China from replacing America as the world leader in biotechnology, we still have much to do in order to safeguard America’s health and security, BIO President & CEO John F. Crowley warned at a Washington event.
Crowley’s message was echoed by Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK), who joined the March 25 reception, co-organized by With Honor, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), and others.
Held to coincide with the first anniversary of the report from the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), the reception called attention to the importance of the report’s message and the work being done in response.
“The commission report highlights the rising threat from China. This is not a secret plan. It’s not by accident. They’ve laid out, as they did with rare earth minerals and other areas, exactly how they intend to dominate the field. And we can’t let that happen,” Crowley said. “Biotech dominance is national security.”
Established with bipartisan support as part of the 2022 defense budget with Sen. Young as chair, the NSCEB was tasked by Congress to conduct “a comprehensive review of emerging biotechnology’s impact on national security and provide practical recommendations to preserve American dominance in this field.”
China’s strategy and why it matters
The report describes China’s strategic approach to achieving biotech supremacy, including with “a 400-fold increase in biopharma R&D spending, over the past decade.” It also explains that Chinese dominance of biotech could mean Americans and the rest of the world have reduced access to all kinds of medicine—and that China could also use biotech superiority to increase its military might.
Crowley underscored why American biotech leadership matters at the March 25 event.
“It’s our belief that the entire world is a better, safer, healthier, and more prosperous place when the United States, together with our allies, continues to lead in biotechnology,” he said.
The NSCEB report provides detailed recommendations. These include support for the industry, like spending $15 billion over the next five years to spur private investment in biotech, creating a coordinated multi-agency government strategy to promote biotech, mobilizing private biotech investment through improved regulation, and other incentives.
Other recommendations in the report focus on doing more to incorporate biotech into Department of Defense activities and building the biotech workforce.
“It’s been wonderful to see so many parts of it already implemented,” Crowley said at the anniversary event. “We have much more to go to get all 49 recommendations put in place, and there’s much more that we need to do to secure the innovation ecosystem, to make sure that people here and everywhere have access to our medicines, so nobody ever goes a day without the medicines they need.”
