Biosecure Act Out of Key Defense Bill in Win for Chinese Biotech

Five Chinese-linked biotechnology firms won a reprieve Saturday when negotiators on a key defense bill decided not to include legislation blacklisting the companies from new federally funded research and contracts.

The US House earlier this year resoundingly voted in favor of the blacklist legislation, dubbed the Biosecure Act, and a bipartisan group in the Senate supported the measure as well. But senior House Democrats, including Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Jamie Raskin of Maryland, said in interviews this week they still objected to naming specific companies in the legislation.

McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, and Raskin, the ...