US House committee opens investigation into Merck, AbbVie China drug trials

The chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on China opened national security investigations into whether five drugmakers have been involved in clinical trials conducted in China that helped fuel the communist country’s military capability. Shares of Lilly, Pfizer, Merck and Bristol Myers were down 2%, while AbbVie was down 1% after the Reuters report.

Why it matters

In the letters to Merck and AbbVie dated Monday and first reported by Reuters on Tuesday, Republican Representative John Moolenaar of Michigan asked the drugmakers to provide by July 17 details of due diligence, data protection processes and other standards at their trial sites in China, particularly in the Xinjiang region and at military hospitals.