@WECARE BIOPHARMA_WeiHePhD
1.2K posts
@DtrmWeihe
Inventor, B.S. Peking U., Ph.D. Ohio State U., 17-y pharma/biotech R&D/BD, 3-y VC, 12-y JV Founder/CEO. 🇺🇸NewCo. FDA-approved Viberzi. Patients & Innovation!
The paradox of biotech protectionism: Why walling off China biotech weakens America US ban on Chinese biotech/trials would return pharma leadership to Europe, slow US patient access to new meds, & lead to US dependency protectionism claims to prevent. rapport.racap.com/all-stories/th…
Missing from the narrative that the dominance of China biotech is great for the ecosystem/patients is the negative impact on scientific knowledge dissemination. Legislation needs to address China IP theft “fast follower” - the consequences are already showing up in the way innovators think about sharing, patenting and publishing. We publish & patent but are increasingly keeping more as trade secret. Fully agree w/Neil, Alexis and Ali
Congress should focus on these fronts, and I have bipartisan legislation & initiatives to run faster in them. What is less helpful is trying to play 'keep away' from China through protectionist measures. Those attempts rely upon a false analogy between semiconductors, where the United States has chokepoint control of critical inputs like chips & lithography machines, to biotechnology, where no such leverage exists.
Great article in @statnews by @damiangarde today covering schism in the biotech industry over the rise of Chinese biotech industry - notably no one will go on record but me😛 The US can easily stop the Chinese biotech industry whenever it chooses as the US consumer is responsible for 70% (!!!) of the drug industry profits. Thus the US gets to set the rules. It is a mistake to outsource this industry -- very simply: the technology of genetic engineering is a matter of national security and democracies should lead it. We would not feel good if the US wasn't leading AI today and trust me we will feel even worse if we are behind in genetic engineering in the future as the tech improves. If you talk to people privately in biotech they will say it's a Prisoner's dilemma where they wish the rules would change. If the rules stay as they are then to stay competitive venture capitalists need to move their $ to China and pharma companies need to buy their drug assets from Chinese startups instead of from startups in Kendall Square or South San Francisco (the current US hubs for drug discovery). To fix this we should take two approaches: (1) Offensive - make US biotech industry more competitive! * Reform phase 1 clinical trails in US to be as fast as China and Australia -- this is in progress now at @US_FDA . @DrSynbio congressional testimony on this was very helpful. (link below). * Replace manual laboratories with autonomous robotic laboratories via programs like NSF Cloud Labs program and @SenToddYoung 's Cloud Lab Bill so US scientists can compete with lower-cost scientific labor in China. Yes, @ginkgo is the leader in making this tech. Efforts from @WHOSTP44. @dariogila, @mkratsios47, @sriramk with the WH Genesis Mission are a big help here. * Fix our approach to biotech patents -- it is very easy for Chinese startups to fast-follow US companies that have scientific breakthroughs by easily working around patents, @john_evans3 has led in thinking here. (2) Defensive - slow the rise of the biotechnology industry in China * USG should add biotechnology to the COINS Act list of strategic technologies alongside AI, Quantum, Semiconductors, and Drones to prevent US investment from speeding Chinese development. * Other tools can be used in the future to easily penalize drug assets that originate from startups in China -- can do via regulatory pathway or via Medicare reimbursement. Genetic engineering is the most important technology to the future of humanity. Democracies should not give up on it! Let's fight for it!
Thanks for sharing view, @jrkelly! This is a polarizing issue, as you know. I, for one, do not support breaking access to China-based manufacturing or innovation. It would harm patients, and that MUST remain our Northstar. On the other hand, I think China’s recent advances must be a “Sputnik moment” for the U.S.. For starters, we should stop and reverse the self-inflicted damage created by certain Administration policies, including reduced NIH funding, FDA instability, drug price controls, H1B visa restrictions, and an anti-Vax/anti-science agenda. Then, we should find smart ways to increase our global competitiveness, including reducing barriers to efficient clinical evidence generation, creating incentives for U.S. clinical trial and manufacturing, and reforming PBMs/340B to ensure reward for the innovator, not the middleman. We can win this competitive race with American ingenuity and resolve, not with walls and barriers!
