Young Chairs Hearing on American Biotechnology Leadership, Building a Resilient Health Care Future

**Click here or above to watch Senator Young's opening statement**

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Subcommittee on Health Care, chaired a subcommittee hearingon the role of biotechnology in strengthening America's health care system, securing medical supply chains, combating emerging health threats, and ensuring the United States remains the global leader in biotech innovation.

Young, who also serves as Chairman of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology (NSCEB), discussed Indiana's leadership in life sciences during his opening remarks.

He also warned that China has made biotechnology a strategic national priority, underscoring the need for the United States to strengthen domestic innovation, to maintain its competitive edge in this essential field.

Additionally, Young highlighted the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, emphasizing the need to spur the development of new antibiotics and other innovative therapies to address drug-resistant infections and bolster America's long-term health security.

To watch Senator Young's opening statement, click here.

Witnesses during the hearing included Dr. Alan D. Palkowitz, President and CEO of the Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, and Dr. Michelle Rozo, Vice Chair of the NSCEB.

More information on the hearing and full video can be found here.

Senator Young's full opening statement, as prepared for delivery:

Over the past decade, biotechnology has emerged as a pivotal technology domain of the 21st century.

This technology has the potential to cure diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's, protect us from pandemics, and fuel our economy.

In Indiana alone, the life-sciences industry employs around 70,000 Hoosiers, providing good-paying jobs in local communities while producing critical innovation and health treatments.

Indiana also leads the United States in biomanufacturing, serving as the nation's number one life sciences exporter in 2024.

However, China's rise in biotechnology and the growing risks of antimicrobial resistance present new challenges to the United States.

For more than a decade, Beijing has poured enormous resources into their biotech sector in a deliberate bid for global dominance.

China's rise puts the United States in a perilous position because leadership in this space provides America national and economic security.

Moreover, advancements in biotech help keep America healthy by preventing, treating, and curing diseases.

If we cede global biotechnology leadership to China, we risk a future where high-skilled biotech jobs migrate abroad, first-in-class therapies do not reach American patients first, and pharmaceutical supply chains are strategically weaponized.

Just as we face the threat of China's rise in biotechnology, antimicrobial resistance has become a growing public health crisis in recent years.

In the United States alone, more than 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur each year, resulting in over 35,000 deaths.

As antimicrobial resistance has spread, market failures have resulted in a lack of needed research and development for new therapies.

Many of the cutting-edge biopharmaceutical companies working to develop new antimicrobials have filed for bankruptcy and stopped producing these antibiotics completely.

While these two threats to the United States vary in substance, the solution to address both is simple: innovation.

American has a rich history of innovation. It is what we are best at, and, as policy makers, it is our responsibility to empower our innovators-whether through R&D incentives, partnering with allies to strengthen supply chains, or cutting red tapes.

Without an industrious, innovative, and self-sustaining domestic biotechnology sector, the United States will remain at risk-both of relying on China for new, life-saving therapies and basic drugs, and of being unprepared for the next public health crisis.

It is my hope that this hearing will explore ways we can ensure the United States remains the global leader in biotechnology.