US biopharmaceutical companies revealed to have conducted illegal clinical trials in collaboration with the Chinese military for more than a decade

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party recently revealed that U.S. biopharmaceutical companies have been conducting drug trials in collaboration with the Chinese Army for more than a decade.

The committee in question sent a letter Monday to Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requesting information on the matter.

John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) stated that "these collaborative research activities raise serious concerns that critical Intellectual Property is at risk of being transferred to the [Chinese military] or being co-opted under the People’s Republic of China’s National Security Law." And they added that there are also concerns related to the "trustworthiness of clinical trial data produced overseas from [People’s Liberation Army] institutions."

In the letter, the committee members noted that hundreds of clinical trials have been conducted at medical centers and hospitals in China that are affiliated with the Chinese military, including the PLA General Hospital and Medical School, the PLA Air Force Medical University, and the PLA Hospital, which is operated by the PLA Academy of Military Medical Sciences (AMMS).

It should be noted that the U.S. Department of Commerce has prohibited biopharmaceutical companies from exchanging technology with AMMS because of national security concerns.

According to the committee, other trials have been conducted in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where the Chinese government has been carrying out a violent crackdown on the Uyghur Muslim population and rapes, sterilizations and even organ harvesting have been reported against women in so-called "reeducation camps."

The lawmakers said in the letter that companies do not have the capacity to ensure that clinical trials in that region are voluntary, so biopharmaceutical companies could be making profits from these experiments in which the Chinese government "forced patient victims to participate." 

The committee has asked Califf to respond by Oct. 1 whether the FDA has formally reviewed some of the clinical trials, or is aware of the collaboration with the Chinese military.

Speaking to The New York Post, an FDA spokesperson said the agency "has received the letter and will respond directly to the members of Congress."