U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee to Pass Biosecurity Bill Targe…

U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee Passes Biosecurity Bill 11 in favor, 1 in opposition

(National = KTN) Reporter Kim Do-hyung = According to the Korea Bio Association, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee on March 6 announced that it had passed a bill 11-1 to restrict transactions with Chinese biotech companies such as China's BGI and Wuxi AppTec.

The Biosecure Act was introduced at the end of January this year to protect Americans' personal health and genetic information from companies of concern. The U.S. House of Representatives also proposed a similar bill.

Although it takes time for the bill to become a final law and there could be significant revisions in the process, such as having to pass the Senate and House plenary sessions and having to be signed by the president, the passage of the Senate Homeland Security Committee could raise investor concerns that Chinese companies could be heavily constrained in the important market of the United States.

WuxiAppTec generates more than half of its sales in the U.S., operates facilities across the U.S., including Georgia, Pennsylvania and California, and plans to open additional new campuses in Delaware. The bill prohibits U.S. federal agencies from signing contracts with concerned bio companies such as China's BGI, its affiliates MGI and Complete Genomics, and Wuxi AppTec and its affiliates Wuxi Biologics.

The Korea Bio Association said the bill is expected to open a new era of strict control over the intervention of specific foreign companies in important areas such as the bio industry in the United States, and it will affect transactions and partnerships with these U.S.-appointed companies internationally.

Meanwhile, President Biden signed an executive order on Feb. 28 to regulate the mass transfer of American sensitive information such as genomes, biometrics and health data to countries of concern, which is expected to directly affect companies involved in countries such as China and Russia operating in the U.S. and signing strategic alliances between companies.