Lawmakers say US firms conducting drug trials in Xinjiang hospitals

A bipartisan group of House members is criticizing some U.S. drug companies they allege have conducted clinical trials in combination with hospitals and medical centers affiliated with the Chinese military. 

“For over a decade, it appears that U.S. biopharmaceutical companies conducted clinical trials with China’s military organizations, and specifically with medical centers and hospitals affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA), to determine the safety and effectiveness of new drug candidates prior to approval,” Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said in the letter, which was dated Aug. 19. 

The lawmakers pressed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf for more information about the trials, including those done in Xinjiang, a region home to the Uyghur population. The U.S. has accused China of committing genocide in relation to the minority group. 

“We are also concerned that U.S. biopharmaceutical companies have conducted clinical trials with hospital infrastructure located in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is engaged in genocide of the Uyghur population,” they wrote in the letter, which was also signed by Reps. Neal Dunn (R-Fla.) and Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.). 

An FDA spokesperson told The Hill the agency received the letter and will respond directly to House members. 

In the document, the lawmakers also predicted that based on the publicly available data, the U.S. drug companies have likely conducted “hundreds” of clinical trials over the past decade with the hospitals in China associated with the military.

The House members have asked the FDA to answer their letter by Oct. 1.