WuXi AppTec, a biotechnology research and manufacturing company that occupies four buildings and employs 800 in South Philly’s Navy Yard, is among the Chinese-owned companies in the crosshairs of legislation advancing in Congress that aims to thwart China’s efforts to “dominate biotechnology as an industry of the future.”

A U.S. Senate committee passed a bill this month that would ban government agencies from doing business with WuXi AppTec or any company that uses WuXi AppTec products or services. A similar House bill, the Biosecure Act, calls WuXi AppTec a “national security threat to the United States” because of alleged ties to the Chinese military.

In Philadelphia, WuXi AppTec company has helped a firm with a large facility in the Navy Yard get FDA approval for the first cell therapy for advanced melanoma. The Shanghai-based company also has a manufacturing contract with a University of Pennsylvania biotech spinout that has started testing cell therapy for autoimmune disorders.

WuXi AppTec called the political push to block its operations without merit.

“The proposed U.S. legislation relies on misleading allegations and inaccurate assertions to propose preemptive and unjustified prohibitions against our company without due process,” WuXi AppTec said in a statement last week. The company said it does not collect genetic information — a central concern in Congress.

WuXi AppTec is one of four companies subject to a fast-track ban in the Senate bill, called the Prohibiting Foreign Access to American Genetic Information Act of 2024, but the sanctions would apply broadly to any biotechnology companies determined to be of concern. A collection of federal agencies, including the Defense and State Departments, would decide which companies make that group, based on their potential for control by an adversarial government.

Democratic U.S. Sen.ator Bob Casey, who is running for reelection this year, said he was concerned about WuXi AppTec’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party. He is not on the committee that voted to advance the bill.

“As I review this legislation, my top priority remains U.S. national security and protecting American interests from an adversarial government,” Casey said in an email.

Casey has also supported efforts to expand the Philadelphia region’s biotechnology sector, which has a particular strength in cell and gene therapy, thanks to research led by the University of Pennsylvania.

A global giant with a big Philly footprint

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