A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has opened national security investigations into the involvement of Merck and AbbVie in clinical trials conducted in China that the committee says may have contributed to the country’s military capability. Letters dated Monday requesting information from the two companies ask for specifics on due diligence processes, data protection measures and other safeguards at their trial sites in China - with particular attention paid to trials in the Xinjiang region and those run at military hospitals.
The committee urged the companies to produce the requested material by July 17. In correspondence to the chief executives, lawmakers stressed that, while the letters do not allege any illegal behavior by either company, the act of conducting clinical trials in China can expose U.S. firms to ethical and security risks.
Merck responded with a statement noting that patient safety and ethical integrity are priorities of its clinical research program and that it follows all global guidelines. AbbVie declined to comment. A spokesperson from China’s embassy in the United States said in an email that there is "nothing credible" in the committee’s actions and that China opposes moves to politicize trade and tech issues.
The letters single out Xinjiang as the epicenter of Beijing’s alleged "genocide" targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities, and note reporting by Chinese researchers of lapses in securing informed consent from trial participants. The lawmakers reference the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021, noting that although the law does not specifically address clinical trials, it reflects best practices for ensuring operations are free of forced labor-related risks.
Two direct quotations from the letters underscore the committee’s concerns: "Through a combination of regulatory reforms, state subsidies, and (at best) questionable ethics, China has transformed itself into the cheapest and fastest place in the world to run early-stage human drug trials," and "Conducting this research at PRC military hospitals puts the cutting-edge, biotechnology Intellectual Property of American companies at potential risk of being transferred to the Chinese military."
The committee provided counts of clinical activity by the two companies in China. It said New Jersey-based Merck has sponsored or collaborated in 224 clinical studies in China since 2005, including at least 31 trials in Xinjiang and 40 studies at medical centers and hospitals affiliated with China’s military. The committee said Illinois-based AbbVie has sponsored or collaborated on more than 100 clinical studies in China since 2007, including at least 17 sites in Xinjiang and 16 at military centers.
The letters place these company-specific figures in the context of broader shifts in global early drug development. The correspondence notes that China has outpaced the United States in trial volume in recent years, citing a study that found the U.S. share of global early drug development programs fell to around 37% by 2024 from 48% in 2015, while China’s share rose to over 32% from 8% over the same period.
These Merck and AbbVie probes form part of a broader uptick in U.S. government attention to China’s growing role in biotechnology. The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology warned in a December report that China has "systematically built a vertically integrated biotechnology ecosystem that is now in prime position to challenge U.S. leadership," language the letters cite as background for their concerns.
Representative John Moolenaar of Michigan, chair of the China Select Committee and lead author of the letters, is also sponsoring legislation that would place more biotech activity under national security review. The bipartisan Biotech Investment National Security Act would amend last year’s Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act to add biotech to a list of screened technologies, requiring outbound U.S. biotechnology licensing deals, joint ventures and equity investments in China to be subject to strict review.
The letters also reference the Biosecure Act, signed into law late last year, which restricts federal agencies’ business dealings with non-U.S. biotechnology companies. Lawmakers frame these and proposed measures as responses to both ethical risks associated with trial conduct and the security risk of sensitive biotechnology intellectual property being transferred to military entities.
Key figures and deadlines in the inquiry are explicit: the committee’s letters are dated Monday; the companies were asked to provide documents by July 17; Merck is cited as sponsoring or collaborating in 224 China studies since 2005 with 31 trials in Xinjiang and 40 at military-affiliated hospitals; AbbVie is cited as participating in more than 100 China studies since 2007 with 17 sites in Xinjiang and 16 at military centers.
The investigation emphasizes two intertwined concerns - ethical lapses in trial conduct, including informed consent issues, and the national security implications of conducting research at institutions tied to the People’s Liberation Army. The committee’s outreach requests details intended to clarify what oversight and protections U.S. companies applied to trials conducted overseas, particularly in locations the letters identify as posing heightened risk.