US biopharmaceutical companies have been running drug trials with the Chinese military for more than a decade, a House committee shockingly revealed in a Monday letter to the Food and Drug Administration.
Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party wrote to FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, demanding information about the clinical trials for new drugs.
“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,” said Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Rep. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.).
“Conversely, there are also concerns with the trustworthiness of clinical trial data produced overseas from [People’s Liberation Army] institutions,” the lawmakers added.
Hundreds of the clinical trials have taken place in China at Chinese military-affiliated medical centers and hospitals, the letter notes, including one ongoing test for an advanced Alzheimer’s treatment.
Those include the PLA’s General Hospital and Medical School, the PLA’s Air Force Medical University and the Hospital of the PLA, which is operated by the PLA’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS).
The US Commerce Department has already banned companies from swapping tech with AMMS over concerns that it could threaten national security.
Other trials have been conducted in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where China has been carrying out a genocide against the Muslim Uyghur population.
Some female victims have been raped or sterilized in the abominable “re-education camps” while others have reportedly even had their organs harvested.
“As we know, there is simply no ability for firms to conduct due diligence to ensure that clinical trials done in XUAR are voluntary,” the House select committee members point out in their letter.
“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 said.
The lawmakers have asked the FDA commissioner to answer by Oct. 1 whether the agency has formally reviewed any of the clinical drug trials or uncovered the extent of the collaboration with the Chinese military.
“The FDA has received the letter and will respond directly to the members of Congress,” a spokesperson for the agency told The Post.
