Bipartisan congressional pressure mounts to expand outbound investment restrictions to cover pharmaceutical deals with Chinese firms
The US government is weighing whether to treat biotech deals with Chinese companies the same way it treats semiconductor and AI investments: as potential national security risks worth screening before the money flows out.
Bipartisan lawmakers have been pushing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to expand the scope of the COINS Act, a law enacted in late 2025, to explicitly include biotechnology transactions involving Chinese firms. The pressure comes after a string of major licensing and partnership agreements between US pharmaceutical giants and Chinese biotech companies, some potentially exceeding $10B in value.
The legislative push taking shape #
On June 2, 2026, Representatives John Moolenaar and Debbie Dingell introduced the Biotech Investment National Security Act, or BINSA. The bill aims to amend the COINS Act so that biotechnology is explicitly listed as a sector subject to outbound investment screening.
This wasn’t a cold start. In May 2026, Moolenaar had already urged Bessent directly to fold biotech into the COINS framework, zeroing in on areas like intellectual property licensing and drug discovery partnerships.
The COINS Act itself, passed as part of the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act, gives the Treasury the authority to designate additional sectors for investment screening beyond its original scope. Final regulations for the COINS Act aren’t expected until March 13, 2027.
Why biotech, why now #
Recent deals involving Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb with Chinese biotech firms have put a spotlight on the scale of capital and technology flowing toward China’s pharmaceutical sector. When individual transactions potentially clear the $10B mark, policymakers start asking uncomfortable questions about what exactly gets transferred along with the money.
The BIOSECURE Act already restricts certain Chinese biotech companies from participating in federal contracts. That law targets the services side, essentially preventing US government agencies from doing business with specific Chinese biotech service providers. BINSA would tackle the other end of the equation: stopping US capital from flowing outward into Chinese biotech ventures.
The focus is deliberately narrow, at least on paper. Agricultural biotechnology and basic research appear to fall outside the scope of what lawmakers are targeting. The crosshairs are trained on pharmaceutical intellectual property and drug development.
What this means for investors #
As of mid-June 2026, the Treasury has not formally initiated any assessment process for including biotechnology in its outbound investment screening regime. No new rules are in effect. No deals have been blocked under this framework.
The March 2027 deadline for final COINS Act regulations is the date circled on the calendar. If the Treasury signals before then that it intends to include biotech, expect market reactions well ahead of any formal rule. If it stays quiet, BINSA’s legislative journey through Congress becomes the next catalyst to monitor.
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