The China question is tearing biotech apart Its ascent is forcing U.S. firms and investors to pick a side: Is the country an ally or an existential threat?

The China question is tearing biotech apart Its ascent is forcing U.S. firms and investors to pick a side: Is the country an ally or an existential threat? https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/18/biotech-industry-split-chinese-drugs-opportunity-versus-existential-threat/?utm_campaign=the_readout&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8mTRq3m7Xa1AICKNQ1bx5MUtzNCHBsPr8a2bxjtVkXOF5AhqWnJfsRQ1Pgw3xAg_RFOJA7APr-Wuna3TWaj1dvofCYCg&_hsmi=419253004&utm_content=419253004&utm_source=hs_email By Damian GardeMay 18, 2026 Garde, who has covered biotech for nearly 15 years, spoke with more than a dozen investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders about how China has caused a rift between peers and partners. A fixation on China is causing a rupture in biotech America’s biotech industry is fracturing over its growing dependence on Chinese drug development, STAT’s Damian Garde reports. Executives and investors are battling over whether partnering with Chinese firms means smart capitalism — or whether the deals amount to a long-term existential threat to the ability of U.S. biotech staying ahead. Molecules invented in China now make up more than 40% of the global drug pipeline, up from just 8% a decade ago, while American companies are increasingly licensing cheaper, faster-to-develop drugs from China rather than building them domestically. There’s concern that the U.S. is making the same strategic mistakes it made with rare earths and electric vehicles, potentially handing China leverage over future access to lifesaving medicines. The debate has become increasingly public thanks to Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly, who is among a cadre of executives pushing for the U.S. government to block biotech deals with China. Damian also explains why Kelly's own future, and Gingko's, may ride on what happens next.