WuXi Companies Reaffirm No Security Risk as U.S. House Passes Draft Biosecure Act

By Jiahui Huang

China-based biotech company WuXi AppTec and its affiliate said they don't pose any security risk to the U.S. or other nations after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a draft Biosecure Act.

The draft bill, which includes a designation of calling the WuXi companies as a "biotechnology company of concern," is preemptive and unjustified without due process, WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics said Tuesday.

"We firmly believe that WuXi AppTec has not posed, does not pose, and will not pose a security risk to the United States or any other country and it has not been subject to any sanction by the U.S. government agencies.," WuXi AppTec said.

The U.S. House passed the draft Biosecure Act on Monday.

Earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers introduced the bill aimed at barring federal contracts with the Beijing Genomics Institute and some Chinese biotech entities. The bill alleged that these companies had connections with the People's Liberation Army. The WuXi companies were among those named in the bill.

The U.S. is actively working to limit China's influence in its markets, accusing some companies of posing a threat to national security or collaborating with the Beijing government to gather data.

In July, the U.S. Justice Department said that the popular social media app TikTok collected data about its users' views on sensitive topics and censored content at the direction of its China-based parent company ByteDance. The Justice Department said the sensitive topics TikTok tracked included the views of its U.S.-based users on gun control, abortion, and religion.

A spokesman for TikTok had said that the company believed a TikTok ban would violate the First Amendment rights of its 170 million users. "We remain confident we will prevail in court," he had said.

The latest draft Biosecure bill will also restrict U.S. government agencies from using funding, loans, or grants for contracts that would use certain biotechnology equipment or services from a designated company.

WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics said they don't have a human genomics business or collect human genomic data in the U.S., China, or elsewhere.

The two companies also said that they would work closely with their advisors to continue their engagement and dialogue with the relevant stakeholders involved in the legislative process.

Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 09, 2024 21:47 ET (01:47 GMT)

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