By Michael Erman
NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - The US is working on rules for pharmaceutical companies investing in China that would likely preserve their ability to strike most licensing deals for Chinese drugs, according to three people who have been briefed on the process.
That would mark a departure from the Trump administration's tightening of business with China for other industries under new national security legislation, and would be looser than restrictions sought by some lawmakers.
The rules
– being drafted by the US Treasury Department – are likely to allow US pharmaceutical companies to invest in promising new drugs being developed by Chinese companies as long as they are not related to pathogens or biotechnology that could be weaponized, the sources said.
The sources, who asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the process publicly, said the rules have not been finalized and are subject to change, particularly should President Donald Trump weigh in.
Some lawmakers and smaller drugmakers are not on board with the approach, seeing such investment as a national-security risk that would undercut America's lead role in developing medicines.
The rules could allow for billions of dollars of deals to help fill US company drug pipelines and provide capital to Chinese firms. Outside licensing deals in Chinese biotech were worth $115 billion last year, according to research firm GlobalData.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to meet with Trump in the US next week. It is unlikely that Treasury will unveil any new rules about investment in pharmaceuticals ahead of the meeting, the three sources and a fourth who was also briefed on the process said.
The content of the rules under consideration has not been previously reported. Treasury and White House officials declined to comment.
PHARMA AGAINST BROAD RESTRICTIONS
The US-China economic rivalry has heated up, with Washington targeting China’s rise in industries including technology, semiconductors and electric vehicles.
Major drugmakers including Pfizer have met in recent months with Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. They have argued against broad restrictions on investments tied to Chinese drug development, saying they could cut US companies off from a fast-growing source of new medicines, the sources said.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview that he had discussed China and national security concerns with Bessent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and representatives of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Bourla said he does not believe US drugmakers signing deals to license medicines from Chinese companies creates a national security concern and should not be restricted.
"I don't think that that's the way to compete with China, to try to slow them down," Bourla said.
It is irrelevant whether new medicines are developed in China or the US, he said. "The important thing is to have a new medicine, and I don't see any national security concerns for something like that."
Almost half of US deals to bring in licensed drugs from abroad in 2025 were with Chinese companies, according to GlobalData, a trend that has continued into 2026. Bristol Myers Squibb this year signed a partnership with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma worth up to $15.2 billion, while Pfizer announced an up to $10.5 billion collaboration with Innovent Biologics covering 12 oncology programs.
COMPETING LOBBYING
Some midsize and smaller biotech companies, which often rely on licensing deals with US big pharma, have advocated for the opposite: restrictions that could make Chinese licensing deals more difficult to consummate.
Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo Bioworks, which helps biotech companies with their laboratory work, has met with Treasury officials to argue that the US and European pharmaceutical industry will suffer in the long term if current outbound investment to China continues apace.
"Are we okay with a strategic dependence on China for innovative drugs? Because that's what we are currently doing with this offshoring," said Kelly, who served as chair of a congressional advisory committee on biotech competition in 2023 and 2024.
LAWMAKER EFFORTS
Lawmakers including Republican Representative John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Democrat Debbie Dingell – both of Michigan – have expressed a similar view.
Moolenaar has asked Treasury to use the COINS Act, a national security law passed in 2025 aimed at restricting outbound investment, to crack down on pharmaceutical transactions even though the industry was not named in it.
The two lawmakers are co-sponsoring a bill proposing tighter Treasury regulation of biotechnology-related investments, licensing agreements and joint ventures involving Chinese companies, not for traditional security reasons but to keep China from dominating biotechnology innovation.
"United States capital flowing to Chinese biotechnology companies through licensing agreements, joint ventures, and equity investments is fueling China's strategy, aiding it in its rapid ascent up the pharmaceutical value chain," Moolenaar wrote in a May letter to Treasury.
Democratic Representative Jake Auchincloss, whose Massachusetts district includes many life sciences companies, said attempts to slow China's pharmaceutical industry by curbing US spending in the sector are bound to fail.
"China is spending 100 billion dollars on biotechnology. China has brilliant scientists," Auchincloss said.
Of those lobbying for the restrictions, he added, "These are people who think that you can drag and drop semiconductor policy to biotechnology policy. You cannot."
(Reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)
