New Delhi, April 14 (NationPress) Major global pharmaceutical corporations — with research and development investments and clinical trials conducted in China's Xinjiang region and at military hospitals — are sidestepping U.S. regulations that restrict drug development and clinical testing, as reported by The Wire, a digital magazine based in New York.

According to data compiled by The Wire China and WireScreen from ClinicalTrials.gov, a medical trial database managed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, these multinational firms have been actively supporting medical trials in Xinjiang and at facilities affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for several years.

The extent of this testing remains challenging to quantify. ClinicalTrials.gov mandates that registered trials comply with regulations from local authorities; however, some trials only indicate the city of the tests, omitting the specific hospital. Additionally, PLA hospitals do not always disclose their military connections. There are 165 PLA hospitals spread across various provinces in China, as highlighted by WireScreen.

Conducting trials at diverse locations enables companies to gather data on how medicines affect different populations under various circumstances. This data is crucial for firms seeking regulatory approval to market their final products.

The report references a treatment developed during the COVID-19 pandemic by AstraZeneca, headquartered in the UK, showcasing the role Xinjiang played in the testing of a drug that received regulatory approval in the United States. This treatment, known as Evusheld, was trialed in Xinjiang alongside other sites in China, the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Japan.

Evusheld’s clinical trial in Xinjiang is just one among hundreds sponsored by AstraZeneca from 2021 to 2023. Nevertheless, it exemplifies how the pharmaceutical sector can function in Xinjiang and bring products to market in the United States without adhering to regulatory mandates regarding forced labor concerns in the region. Numerous foreign governments and the United Nations (UN) have cited widespread human rights violations in Xinjiang, as noted in the article.

In contrast to agricultural and technology companies operating in the area, drug manufacturers have been exempt from sanctions under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, as per a 2024 report from the Washington-based research organization Center for Advanced Defense Studies. This act, enacted in 2021, prohibits the importation of all goods mined, produced, or manufactured in Xinjiang unless it can be demonstrated that they originate from a forced labor-free supply chain.

Consequently, the pharmaceutical industry has continued to conduct trials on patients in Xinjiang and at military hospitals. The report identifies the leading multinational sponsors of trials over the past fifteen years.

Furthermore, the article underscores that the lack of oversight led the bipartisan Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party in the House of Representatives to approach the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2024, demanding further insights into pharmaceutical trials conducted in Xinjiang and at PLA hospitals.

“China conducts trials at PLA military hospitals and in Xinjiang, where there is a documented history of individuals being coerced into medical studies amid the Chinese Communist Party’s targeting of Uyghur Muslims and other minorities,” stated John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the select committee, during a March 18 hearing on the generic drug supply chain, according to the article.

“Despite this coercive testing, the FDA currently permits companies to utilize data from uninspected Chinese trial sites to progress drug applications in the United States,” he added.