A proposed executive order from Washington that could impose severe restrictions on medicines and experimental treatments from China has divided US President Donald’s Trump’s backers and American pharmaceutical companies, according a report by The New York Times.
The draft order proposes increased scrutiny of purchases of Chinese-invented experimental treatments by American pharmaceutical companies and increased production of certain medicines in the US so as to cut back on their imports of China, NYT said.
Restrictions on experimental treatments will likely have a significant impact on pharmaceutical companies which have, in recent years, bought up rights to experimental drugs created in China for cancer, obesity and heart disease, among others. Early this year, for instance, drugmaker Pfizer bought the rights to an experimental cancer drug from a Chinese firm for a whopping $6 billion.
Pharmaceutical companies are “getting great deals, and they’re not going to want that to end,” one biotech investor told NYT. These companies have warned the Trump administration that the planned restrictions could upend the American pharmaceutical industry and eliminate the availability of promising treatments for American patients, NYT said.
Trump’s backers, meanwhile, are on the other side of the debate and have called for ending America’s reliance on China for medicines. They include investors such as tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the Koch family and staff at the investment firm run by President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, NYT said.
They argue that American companies have already been struggling to keep up with China’s surging biotech sector. They also view Chinese competitors as an existential threat to US biotechnology, BYT reported citing people briefed on their lobbying.
- Vishakha Saxena
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