A major Chinese pharmaceutical company is stealing genetic information from Americans to create a massive global database, lawmakers say.
WuXi AppTec, which has bases in Massachusetts, Delaware and California, designs and tests molecules in the laboratory and in animals on which American pharmaceutical companies base their drugs, some of which help treat cancer and cystic fibrosis, among others. serious health problems.
But the company, which has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has been found to have obtained a mountain of Americans’ genetic information through hacks and corporate mergers.
Last month, a congressional committee approved a bill to pressure healthcare companies to divest from the company.
Ongoing investigations have shown that private genetic sequences through blood samples, DNA data and people’s medical records have fallen into the hands of Chinese companies due to hacks and corporate mergers.
China is believed to be collecting sensitive data to develop drugs for its military, posing what lawmakers have called a significant national security risk funded by American taxpayers.
Nearly $6 billion in profits for WuXi, which Congress says collects Americans’ private data, come from U.S. contracts.
WuXi has been the target of congressional efforts to pressure American healthcare companies to break ties with the drugmaker, which creates crucial treatments for cancer and cystic fibrosis.
Reports over the past five years have shown that companies like WuXi AppTec have posed a threat to private information and intellectual property.
WuXi makes some or all of the main ingredients in expensive drugs, such as Imbruvica, a leukemia treatment from Janssen and AbbVie that costs about $130,000 a year, and Trikafta, a cystic fibrosis drug that costs about $320,000 a year. .
About two-thirds of Wuxi sales Last year he came from the United States. The company’s revenue has more than quadrupled since 2018 to $5.6 billion in 2023.
According to Global Data’s Pharma Intelligence Center’s database of drugs by manufacturer, WuXi is behind 19 biosimilar drugs, or drugs that are derived from human or animal cells, not in the laboratory.
A bill in the House targeted WuXi, linking it to the CCP’s military arm, the People’s Liberation Army.
Lawmakers who drafted the bill say the company has sponsored military operations linked to the CCP in China.
According to the House of Representatives, the president of WuXi thanked the PCC for its work in the company and linked his success to the support of the PCC. He also pledged to continue working with the PCC, establishing a “management committee” made up of party officials.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee passed a bill 11-1 to restrict business with WuXi and another company called BGI, although the bill has a long way to go before becoming law.
WuXi AppTec has received millions in tax incentives to create research and manufacturing sites in California, Massachusetts and Delaware.
The company develops molecules that could cure diseases and tests them in the laboratory and in animal models to ensure their safety and effectiveness.
Dr. Peter Kolchinsky, managing partner of the firm RA Capital Management, saying: ‘Your American company has the idea, raises the money and owns the rights to the drug.
“But they can count on WuXi or similar contractors for almost every step of the process.”
China is building a global database of genetic information that could be used to boost surveillance and build biological weapons, according to House Republican Mike Gallagher, who chairs the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with the Party. Chinese Communist.
He said: “The database includes Americans, whose DNA they are collecting through major cyberattacks, corporate takeovers and other methods to include collecting DNA from 8 million pregnant women around the world.”
WuXi insists that it poses no threat to national security, has denied the use of genetic data and that efforts to limit its activity in the US ‘rely on misleading accusations and inaccurate claims to propose pre-emptive and unjustified bans against our company without due process’. ‘
The company is a boon to at least 200 biotech companies in the US.
Meanwhile, BGI was recently added to the U.S. Commerce Department’s list of foreign entities considered a national security risk and has said it does not have access to Americans’ personal data.
Democratic Senator Gary Peters, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said: “It is important that when Americans undergo typical medical care, such as a blood draw or other tests, they are sure that their DNA It won’t end up in the wrong hands.’
Reuters investigation in BGI’s internship discovered that the company has worked with the Chinese government to create a prenatal test that they are using to collect genetic data from millions of women in order to conduct research on the traits of entire populations.
BGI used its prenatal test, one of the most popular in the world and sold in at least 52 countries, which analyzes leftover blood samples and genetic data to collect information and capture data about the woman using the test, including height and weight. .
More than 8 million women have been tested worldwide.