The proposed US BIOSECURE Act is heading to a full committee vote amid heightening tensions, underscored by new US Congressional Oversight Committee letters to the FDA asking it to examine national security threats posed by Chinese 'biotechs of concern.'

Apparently months after his actual detention, news has finally surfaced that a key researcher behind China's rapid development of a homegrown COVID-19 vaccine is said to have "severely violated" Communist Party rules and regulations and is the subject of a probe for possible corruption.

Quietly but unambiguously, pharma firms are accelerating their diversification away from China and are now looking to other emerging markets for growth, a strategy that reflects increasing pressures from China's volume-based procurement scheme but also US-China tensions and other geopolitical risks.

Guest Andrew McConaghie from Scrip's UK team joins Brian Yang and Dexter Yan to discuss AACR highlights from Chinese biotechs, European perspectives on the proposed US BIOSECURE Act, two recent acquisitions and Boehringer Ingelheim's recent quarterly results.

Could health sector players encounter issues similar to those facing Tesla in China, a country which virtually saved the electric vehicle maker but where it is now facing challenges? Are there any lessons to be learned from a success story under China's volume-based procurement scheme? A partner at EY looks at these and other issues. 

China continues to roll out volume-based procurement for medical devices and pharma products and companies should plan their strategies accordingly, advises EY Parthenon’s Hua Su.