Lawmakers in Washington are planning to make it tougher for drug companies to do business with some Chinese biotech firms amid growing concerns over national security. Swiss pharmaceutical groups won’t escape the fallout. In March, the CEOs of at least seven of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies joined some 100 global executives in Beijing for the annual China Development Forum. The state-backed conference offers foreign business leaders the opportunity to network with Chinese officials and gives the government a platform to deliver its message to the international community. The theme of this year’s gathering, “the continuous development of China”, was widely seen as a chance for Chinese leaders to woo more foreign investment amid slowing economic growth and increasing concerns about Western decoupling. Sign up to get the latest news from Switzerland directly to your inbox The event came at a delicate time for the pharma CEOs, however. Two months earlier, bipartisan ...
