US bill to restrict WuXi AppTec, Chinese biotechs revised to give more time to cut ties

The logo of Chinese drug research and development group WuXi AppTec is displayed alongside its company website, in this illustration picture taken February 5, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo

By Karen Freifeld

(Reuters) -A new version of a congressional bill that would restrict U.S. business with certain Chinese biotechnology companies including WuXi AppTec and BGI would give U.S. companies until 2032 to end work with the firms, extending the amount of time to find new partners.

The latest Biosecure Act also adds WuXi Biologics to a list of biotech companies of concern, according to a copy seen by Reuters. The other companies on the list are BGI , MGI, Complete Genomics and WuXi AppTec .

The revised bill will be introduced on Friday and a U.S. House of Representatives committee is expected to decide next week whether to move the bill forward, according to a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability spokesperson.

The committee markup, expected Wednesday, is a procedural step in the process to the bill’s possibly becoming law. A similar Senate bill was approved by a committee there in March.

The bills are designed to keep Americans’ personal health and genetic information from foreign adversaries. News of the proposed legislation has driven WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics shares down this year.

A spokesperson for WuXi Biologics said they had not yet seen the revised bill and could not comment. WuXi AppTec and MGI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Complete Genomics said it is “encouraged that policymakers understand the detrimental impacts to the U.S. biotech supply chain – and how the legislation would jeopardize the drug supply for millions of American patients.” It said it does not have access to personal DNA data and should be removed from the legislation.

The latest bill “highlights a key vulnerability in our global supply chain and importantly provides a reasonable timeframe for companies to decouple their reliance on China-based biomanufacturing,” John Crowley, president of BIO, an industry association, said in a statement.

The association sent the results of a survey of member companies to congressional contacts on Wednesday. Of the 124 biopharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies that responded, 79 percent had at least one contract or product agreement with a China-based or owned manufacturer.

The “vast majority” of business described in the survey is assumed to be with WuXi Biologics and WuXi AppTec, Crowley said in an interview.

Companies estimated it would take up to eight years to switch manufacturing partners, the survey found.

WuXi AppTec has said it fully complies with the strict reporting, oversight and inspection requirements of its customers and U.S. federal agencies.

BGI Group said, as it has in the past, that it supports protecting Americans’ personal data and did not have access to the data. It said the bill would drive BGI out of the U.S. and limit competition and that a U.S. company had been lobbying on it.

“This legislation will give a single company total control of the U.S. market, resulting inevitably in higher prices and reduced choice,” Complete Genomics added.

(Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Michael Erman and Diane Craft)