China just announced a new five-year plan that designates biotechnology as a national “pillar industry” and aims to displace the United States as the world’s biotech leader. Those ambitions threaten one of America’s defining competitive advantages — and they demand an urgent response.
America’s biotech sector supports nearly 10 million jobs and over $3 trillion in annual economic activity. It fuels advanced manufacturing growth, ensures our loved ones have access to the newest and most groundbreaking medicines, and strengthens our defenses against pandemics and biological threats. Losing our biotech lead would mean losing a pillar of both our economy and our national security.
Yet biotech innovation also depends on numerous interconnected players — from the university laboratories and startups that often pioneer new research to the trial networks and manufacturing facilities that bring medicines to patients. That means there’s no single policy that will protect our lead. Instead, we need a plan that strengthens every facet of our biotech ecosystem.
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