Lawmakers in Washington share U.S. drugmakers’ angst about being surpassed by China’s fast-progressing biotechnology sector, but aren’t raising alarms over the recent surge in licensing deals for medicines discovered there, according to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. On an earnings conference call Tuesday, Bourla described concern around China’s “emerging superiority” in several areas, including biotech, as one of the “very few things” that unites Democrats and Republicans. However, lawmakers in the Senate and House of Representatives appear more worried about U.S. companies handing technology to Chinese firms than they are about the China-to-U.S. partnerships that have become increasingly common. “The sensitivity is way more on things that we transfer there than vice versa,” Bourla said. Still, he cautioned drugmakers “need to be careful” because China is “very high on the radar” of U.S. policymakers. China’s biotech sector has made rapid progress over the last decade, boosted by government support, regulatory flexibility and a skilled workforce that’s launched scores of homegrown companies. Growth has accelerated in recent years, culminating in an frenzy of dealmaking and drug research that’s challenging U.S. leadership in the life sciences.

Full report : While the threat posed by China’s fast biotech advances is on U.S. lawmakers’ radar, China-to-U.S. licensing deals aren’t raising many alarms says Bourla, Pfizer CEO.