Is American Biotech Leadership Slipping Away?

It is jarring to hear much talk about making America great while we see signs that American biotech leadership is fading. Until now, America has been the unquestioned leader in biotechnology innovation. But hard data suggests that China is chipping away at that.

Recent actions by the U.S. federal government seem to be opening the door to further losses in this critical source of American economic dynamism.

A clear signal that this trend is real can be found in licensing deals for new obesity therapies. Late last year, Merck signed a two billion dollar deal for a new oral obesity medicine from a Chinese firm. Regeneron likewise signed a two billion dollar deal with China’s Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group. Such deals are popping up with increasing frequency.

A Clear Trajectory for China

Michelle Rozo is a molecular biologist and vice chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. She says:

“China’s rise in biotech is a threat to the United States.

“The deals signed just this year represent billions of dollars in potential payouts being directed in the Chinese ecosystem and Chinese biotech. And that is money that is not going into the U.S.

“If you’re the best in biotech and health care and therapeutics. You’re also developing a bunch of other capabilities with biotechnology. This is, you know, experience, people, talent that can flow to other applications of biotech.”

In short, she sees the frontline of biotech innovation starting to flow out of the U.S.

Driving Talent and Investment Out

As the talent and investment in biotech innovation is growing outside of the U.S., recent deep cuts to funding for biomedical research, as well as regressive policy decisions, are driving it out of American centers of excellence. It is hard to comprehend the great gap between rhetoric of making America great and destroying its preeminence in medical research.

Something’s gotta give.

Click here, here, here, and here for more on this emerging trend.

American Soil, pictorial map by Paul Sample / Wikimedia Commons

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June 29, 2025