US bill on Chinese biotech firms may be more ‘narrowly tailored’

A bill in the U.S. Congress targeting Chinese biotech companies may end up being more “narrowly tailored”, the U.S. lawmaker who proposed it said on Friday, adding that he was cautiously optimistic something could be passed this year.
A congressional committee focused on China introduced a bill late last month that would restrict federally funded medical providers from allowing China’s BGI Group, WuXi Apptec and other biotech firms from accessing genetic information about Americans.
The proposed legislation has sparked a sell-off in WuXi shares.
“I’m actually cautiously optimistic that we can get something done,” Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, chair of the House select committee on China, told reporters while on a trip to Taiwan.
“Now it may end being something a little bit more narrowly tailored but I would say, just speaking for myself, the primary concern is BGI and the secondary is WuXi,” he added.