Lawmakers press Eli Lilly for China drug trials tied to military-linked hospitals

By Fox News · Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar is launching an investigation into pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly's clinical trial operations in China , demanding records related to research conducted at Chinese military-affiliated hospitals and facilities in Xinjiang. In a Tuesday letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Moolenaar, R-Mich., demanded that Eli Lilly provide detailed information about its clinical trial operations in China, including how the company ensures ethical standards, protects sensitive biotechnology and intellectual property, and veterans research conducted at hospitals linked to the People's Liberation Army and in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities. The committee says publicly available records indicate Lilly has sponsored or collaborated on more than 220 clinical studies in China since 2003, including at least 11 trials involving hospitals in Xinjiang, China, and at least 16 involving Chinese military medical centers. Several remain active today, the letter says. The inquiry marks an escalation in congressional scrutiny of U.S. pharmaceutical companies' growing ties to China as lawmakers warn that clinical research conducted at Chinese military-affiliated hospitals and in Xinjiang, China, could pose national security, intellectual property and human rights risks. The committee is seeking records from Lilly as it expands its investments and research partnerships in China. CHINA’S GRIP ON RARE-EARTH MAGNETS COULD CRUSH US DRONE INDUSTRY BEFORE IT GROWS Moolenaar stressed that the committee has "no evidence that Lilly has engaged in illegal activity or wrongdoing," but argued that conducting clinical trials in China — particularly in Xinjiang, China, and at military-affiliated hospitals, hospitals affiliated with China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), which the committee argues could gain access to…