(Bloomberg) — China’s top trade official urged Eli Lilly & Co. to bolster its investment in the country, vowing to create vast opportunities for international pharmaceutical companies even as the US works to cut those ties.
China wants Lilly to provide more high quality medical products and services to the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told Lilly Chief Executive Officer David Ricks at a meeting on Thursday, according to a statement from the ministry.
Ricks said Lilly attaches great importance to the Chinese market and will step up its research and development efforts there, according to the statement.
Read more: Weight Loss Drugs Threatened by US Effort to Contain China
The meeting came at a time when one of Lilly’s Chinese service providers, WuXi AppTec Co., and other biotechnology companies have gotten caught in an effort by American lawmakers to reduce US reliance on the sector. Much of the active base ingredient used in Lilly’s weight loss drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro is produced by WuXi AppTec, Bloomberg reported earlier, citing people familiar with the company’s operations.
Lawmakers in the US are considering bills that would ban Chinese biotech companies “of concern,” or any pharmaceutical company that works with them, from getting federal contracts in an effort to ensure national security. Legal and industry experts say the measures, if passed, would sever ties between the companies and the larger industry.
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