VC Julie Grant: U.S. China Biotech Curbs Would 'Hurt
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- Julie Grant, a venture capitalist, opposes adding biotechnology to the COINS Act, calling such restrictions "shortsighted" and a "misguided effort to turn back time" on decades of U.S.-China biotech interdependency.
- A handful of legislators are pushing to expand the COINS Act to cover biotechnology, which currently allows the U.S. government to restrict investments in certain cases.
- The proposed expansion would enable federal scrutiny of licensing deals, equity investments, and other cross-border biotech arrangements that are becoming more prevalent in the industry.
- Grant argues that even if it were feasible to sever U.S. reliance on Chinese research organizations and drug developers, doing so would hamper U.S. drug development and hurt patients.
Why it matters: If the COINS Act is expanded to cover biotech, the growing pipeline of U.S.-China licensing deals and equity investments in drug development would face federal investment restrictions. Grant's opposition spotlights the tension between national security concerns about China's rising biotech strength and the practical reliance of American drug developers on Chinese research partnerships for getting new treatments to patients.
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