New Analysis: Urgent Policy Action Needed to Maintain U.S. Global Leadership over China in Biotech Innovation
In a new paper analyzing China’s rise in biotechnology, the NSCEB assesses that China is now surpassing the U.S. in certain areas of biopharmaceutical innovation, marking a new inflection point in this great power competition.
19 December 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC – Today, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) released a new assessment of the state of the U.S.-China biotechnology competition. This is the latest in a series of new analyses following the publication of its major report and Action Plan for Congress in April 2025.
In April, the Commission came to a sobering conclusion: U.S. policymakers have a three-year window to retain, or in some cases regain, biotechnology leadership or risk ceding profound military, geopolitical, and economic advantages to China.
Since then, the trajectory the Commission identified has continued—and in several areas intensified. The NSCEB assesses that China is beginning to outpace the U.S. in certain domains of biopharmaceutical innovation, undermining our national and economic security, and global technological leadership.
According to the new analysis, unless the U.S. takes swift policy action, the Chinese Communist Party’s whole-of-nation approach to biotechnology will further undercut the U.S. industry, sending jobs, research and discovery, and opportunities for industry growth to China.
This new work continues the Commission’s analysis of the U.S.-China competition in biotechnology and establishes a new benchmark documenting the empirical evidence of China’s emerging lead, as well as the policy and investment mechanisms driving it.
“Emerging biotechnology will shape the balance of power in the decades ahead, and China is already acting on that reality with urgency and intent,” said NSCEB Chair Senator Todd Young. “The United States needs a clear strategy across the public and private sectors to ensure America – not Beijing – leads the future of biotechnology. We cannot afford to let China win this race.”
“Biotechnology is a strategic arena of geopolitical competition where the U.S. cannot afford to fall behind,” said NSCEB Vice Chair Michelle Rozo. “But that is the reality. Emerging evidence shows the CCP is leading in specific biopharmaceutical innovation, building on the advantages gained from non-market practices and brute force economics. The US needs a coordinated plan of action, or we risk ceding economic leadership and exposing national security vulnerabilities across health, agriculture, and defense.”
About NSCEB: The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology is a time-limited, high-impact legislative branch advisory entity whose purpose is to advance and secure biotechnology, biomanufacturing, and associated technologies for U.S. national security and to prepare the United States for the bioindustrial revolution. The Commission published a comprehensive report in April 2025, including recommendations for action by Congress and the federal government. The bipartisan Commission is composed of Congressionally-appointed Commissioners with members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as experts from industry, academia, and government. For more information about the Commission and to view the report, visit: biotech.senate.gov.
Contacts:
NSCEB: press@biotech.senate.gov
