Staff at drugmaker under U.S. scrutiny worked with Chinese military
scientists
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[June 06, 2024]
By Kirsty Needham and Andrew Silver
SYDNEY/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Employees of drugmaker WuXi AppTec, under
U.S. scrutiny for its links to the Chinese military, co-invented
altitude sickness treatments with People's Liberation Army (PLA)
scientists, according to public patent records and science papers
reviewed by Reuters.
The news agency identified 10 patent filings that list six of WuXi
AppTec's staff as co-inventors of altitude sickness drugs with six
scientists from the PLA General Hospital in Beijing - China's top
military medical school and research centre. The filings, which Reuters
is reporting for the first time, were made in the U.S., Europe and China
between 2018 and 2023.
Treatments for such illnesses are a top priority for the PLA, which
fought with India - an increasingly important U.S. security partner - as
recently as 2022 on their Himalayan frontier. The PLA has said high
altitude disease, which include disorientation as well as fatal
pulmonary and cerebral edema, is the major cause of reduced combat
effectiveness to Chinese soldiers in such areas and can influence the
results of war.
The drug development ties go beyond the links between WuXi AppTec and
the PLA that have been publicly alleged by a U.S. congressional
committee.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has accused
the Shanghai-headquartered company, which reported U.S. sales of about
$3.6 billion last year, of being a threat to Washington's national
security interests.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/06/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
WuXi AppTec, which denies allegations that it is a threat to U.S.
national security, said in a statement to Reuters that it "did not
collaborate with PLA General Hospital or any other PLA-related entity in
the performance of this work" and that it has "no special ties" to
China's military.
It said its employees were listed in the patent documents because they
had earlier "invented compounds related to hypertension treatment" while
doing research for a client, Shijiazhuang Sagacity New Drug Development.
Sagacity included the compounds "in a subsequent project that we had no
knowledge of and did not involve our company or employees," WuXi AppTec
said.
Sagacity, whose founder was the legal representative of a company
acquired by WuXi AppTec's parent in 2016, told Reuters it is independent
of WuXi AppTec but cooperates with it on certain services. It did not
respond to questions about the patent's inventors.
China's defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the
PLA's relationship with WuXi AppTec.
PLA General Hospital senior official Kunlun He, lead author of the
studies behind the patented treatments and a co-inventor, did not return
an email seeking comment.
PATENT TRAIL
Reuters found two U.S. Patent and Trademark Office documents dated March
2021 that show the six WuXi AppTec employees signed over rights to the
patents to Sagacity and PLA General Hospital.
Asked about the documents, WuXi AppTec said that it was "standard patent
application practice" to sign over the rights to the applicants and that
neither the company nor the six employees owned those patents.
In a June 2022 study related to altitude sickness treatments, He, the
scientist who led PLA General Hospital's altitude research efforts,
thanked WuXi AppTec's team for “helpful discussions regarding initiating
and promoting" a Beijing-funded high-level defense science project.
U.S. Republican lawmaker John Moolenaar, who chairs the congressional
committee, said that Reuters' findings "only adds to the urgent need for
Congress" to pass proposed legislation that would restrict U.S. agencies
and firms from cooperating with some biotech companies, including WuXi
AppTec.
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![](../images/060624PIX/health98.jpg)
The logo of Chinese drug research and development group WuXi AppTec
is displayed alongside an open letter addressing a U.S. legislative
initiative on its company website, in this illustration picture
taken February 5, 2024. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/06/images/ads/current/fcs_funeral_lda_border_04029022.png) "People forget that public health
really for the most part has been run by the PLA," said Anna
Puglisi, a former U.S. counterintelligence officer focused on
biotechnology and China, who reviewed Reuters' findings.
China's foreign ministry said in a statement responding to Reuters'
questions that many well-known U.S. companies also have ties with
the U.S. military.
It said that Washington should "stop overstretching the concept of
national security" and "stop politicizing, instrumentalizing and
weaponizing tech and trade issues".
MILITARY RESEARCHERS
Reuters also identified seven people listed in research documents or
science seminar documents as graduate students or researchers at
Shanghai's Navy Medical University while they were WuXi AppTec
employees.
Sheng Chunquan, a four-star military officer who heads the
university's pharmacy school, wrote in a 2021 article in China's
Journal of Pharmaceutical Practice and Service that it trained
"military pharmacy" researchers under a plan created by the
Communist Party's top military decision-making body.
Sheng, whose drug development work was previously recognized with a
WuXi AppTec prize, said in a 2016 interview - recently deleted from
the company's social media account - that cooperation between the
firm and the university would "greatly promote the process of new
drug R&D and launches."
University officials did not respond to emails and a fax seeking
comment.
A Reuters review of over a dozen science papers found that at least
three Navy Medical University graduate students hired by WuXi AppTec
in Shanghai during the same period also worked on projects related
to pain treatments and an antibiotic for WuXi AppTec clients from
the U.S., Europe and Canada, including Novartis.
A Novartis spokeswoman told Reuters the Swiss company would not
disclose details of its collaboration with third parties but that it
is "committed to conducting our business in a fully compliant
manner."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jun/06/images/ads/current/werth_sda_PROMGRAD_2024.png)
WuXi AppTec said all military medical universities in China enrol
civilian students. It also said its internal security controls
prevent access by unauthorized employees to labs and files and that
all employees signed agreements that "prohibit them from sharing
company data or intellectual property with third parties, including
for the purpose of academic research and/or graduate studies."
Puglisi, now adjunct faculty at Georgetown University, said Chinese
companies were obliged by a 2017 law - which states they must
"assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work" - to share
information upon the request of authorities "regardless of who owns
that IP."
WuXi AppTec said the law was "subject to substantive and procedural
restrictions" and Beijing has not asked it to "provide proprietary
data or confidential information in connection with this law."
($1 = 7.2330 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham, Andrew Silver and Michael Martina;
Editing by Miyoung Kim and Katerina Ang)
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