NSCEB Assesses Future of U.S.-China Biotechnology Competition

On December 19, 2025, the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB) announced the publication of a paper entitled “The Future of U.S.-China Biotechnology Competition.” The paper notes that although the United States has historically led in biotechnology, over the past 20 years, China has systematically built a vertically integrated biotechnology ecosystem that is now in prime position to challenge U.S. leadership. According to the paper, China’s new competitive posture “is propelled by strategy and policies implemented on top of a foundation of non-market practices and brute force economics.” NSCEB states unless the United States “takes swift policy action, the Chinese Communist Party’s whole-of-nation approach to biotechnology will further undercut the U.S. industry, sending jobs, research and discovery, and opportunities for industry growth to China.” The paper continues NSCEB’s analysis of the U.S.-China competition in biotechnology, establishing “a new benchmark documenting the empirical evidence of China’s emerging lead, as well as the policy and investment mechanisms driving it.”