Acetaminophen

iStock, ffikretow A draft executive order obtained by The New York Times purports to clamp down on the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to buy new molecules from biotechs based in China, along with a number of other proposed reforms. The pharmaceutical industry’s recent source of novel molecules may be coming under threat. The White House is reportedly preparing an executive order that would place restrictions on drugs brought to the U.S. from China, including experimental treatments invented at Chinese biotechs. The policy is part of a draft executive order obtained by The New York Times , which first reported the news. The policies seem broadly concerned with tamping down on Chinese biopharma, which, according to the newspaper, is “fueling fears” that China could soon supplant U.S.-based centers of the pharma industry like Boston and San Francisco. The order reportedly contains a series of policy proposals that could affect the pharmaceutical industry. One would heavily scrutinize licensing deals between American and Chinese companies, which have been increasingly common in the past few years as U.S. firms look for new sources of novel molecules. These deals have not historically been subject to regulation but under the executive order would be investigated by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, an inter-agency committee that reviews foreign investments in the U.S. Another proposed policy is heightening the FDA’s review of clinical data generated in China and adding regulatory fees to applications that use data generated in China. The FDA already requires late-stage clinical data to be generated from U.S. patients. Behind the executive order is a crosscurrent of opposing interests, according to NYT . Some groups, like tech billionaires Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin and the Koch family, support the idea of cracking down on Chinese influence on U.S. pharmaceuticals because they hold investments in American startups that might struggle in the American pharma industry’s headwinds. Opposing the order are the largest pharmaceutical companies on the planet, including Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which have been scooping up molecules developed by Chinese biotechs. The pharmaceutical industry spent $48 billion in China in the first half of 2025 alone, more than the entirety of 2024. Meanwhile, concerns about America’s biotech sector ceding leadership to China have been raised in Congress and by the industry. Another impetus behind the order, according to NYT , is reshoring the U.S. production of medicines commonly manufactured in China, including drugs such as antibiotics and over-the-counter painkillers like Tylenol. Once U.S. manufacturing of those drugs increases, the draft order says, the government should give those drugs purchasing preference.

The draft order includes a suggested policy that would see heavier scrutiny on U.S. pharmas’ attempts to license drugs from China, according to the NYT.\n The Trump administration is considering putting “severe restrictions” on the increasing flow of investigational drugs from China, according to reporting by The New York Times.A draft executive order is being circulated to Big Pharmas, billionaire stakeholders and biotech VC investors that accuses China “and other hostile actors” of having “exploited gaps in our open scientific and regulatory systems,” the NYT reported Sept. 10.The draft order includes a suggested policy that would see heavier scrutiny on U.S. pharmas’ attempts to license drugs from Chinese biotechs, including ensuring that these licensing deals are assessed by a U.S. national security committee, according to the NYT. These sorts of deals have become an increasingly regular occurrence, with recent months alone seeing Pfizer pay China’s 3SBio $1.25 billion upfront for a PD-1xVEGF bispecific, while AstraZeneca handed over $110 million to existing Chinese partner CSPC Pharmaceutical to collaborate on chronic disease drugs.Another proposed policy referenced in the NYT’s reporting would require a more rigorous review of Chinese clinical trial data by the FDA, along with higher regulatory fees for companies that submit China trial data.Meanwhile, the document also calls for boosting U.S. production of medicines like antibiotics and the pain relief drug acetaminophen, with products produced stateside given preference by the government for purchasing, the NYT said.According to the NYT, the White House pushed back on the reporting and said it is not “actively considering” the draft order.In the same article, the NYT referred to discussions in the Trump administration about looking to speed up the FDA review process to allow drugmakers to launch clinical studies sooner. The suggestion mirrors a push at China’s medicines regulator to find ways to speed up its own review process.The various proposals reported by the NYT are being backed by billionaires and other investors with significant stakes in the U.S. biotech sector who are concerned about the rise of China’s influence, according to the newspaper. China has been cementing its newfound position as a major source of medicine innovation in recent years. In the first three months of 2025, 32% of outlicensing biotech deal value occurred in China, versus 21% reported in both 2024 and 2023, according to a Jefferies equity research report published in July.At the time, analysts at Jefferies described how “China biotechs are reshaping the U.S. biopharma landscape, as in-licensing assets from China could offer multinational corporations a remedy to alleviate pressure affordably and within a manageable time frame.”In June, PwC analysts were offering a warning that the speedy evolution of the Chinese biotech sector was creating “heightened risks related to IP security, regulatory compliance and strategic alignment.”These issues have been on the radar of the Trump administration for some time. In February, the administration issued a memorandum titled the “America First Investment Policy” for several federal leaders. Emphasizing national and economic security, the policy aimed to restrict both inbound and outbound investments related to “foreign adversaries” in certain strategic industries. The document put China front and center and mentioned both healthcare and biotech among the sectors it would regulate.