Pfizer and Eli Lilly accused of testing drugs on prisoners in Chinese concentration camps

Pfizer and Eli Lilly accused of testing drugs on prisoners in Chinese concentration camps

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Pfizer and Eli Lilly accused of testing drugs on prisoners in Chinese concentration camps

16:36 BST 21 Aug 2024, updated 20:13 BST 21 Aug 2024 By Maiya Focht Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com

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Major US pharmaceutical companies have been running clinical trials at hospitals affiliated with the Chinese army and may have tested drugs on prisoners in China's illegal concentration camps.

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers has sent a scathing letter probing the FDA for more information about decades of research from companies like Eli Lilly and Pfizer.

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The letter states these companies have been conducting clinical trials in China at medical centers and hospitals affiliated with the People's Liberation Army (PLA). 

Some of this research was conducted in the regions where the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been accused of setting up camps to house and commit genocide against Uyghur Muslims. 

This means it's possible those trials could've been conducted on unwilling participants, the letter states. 

Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has been in power since 2013

The letter raises concerns over US pharmaceutical research conducted at Chinese-military affiliated hospitals, chiefly over data security and human rights issues

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The representatives said, 'we believe that U.S. biopharmaceutical entities could be unintentionally profiting from the data derived from clinical trials during which the CCP forced victim patients to participate.' 

In addition, they write that they're concerned that the data collected in these clinical trial could have been easily accessed by the Chinese Communist Party.  

The letter asked FDA commissioner Dr Robert Califf to share more information about the clinical trials conducted in China in order to respond to the representatives' concerns. 

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These include questions about the FDA's review of Chinese military-run hospitals, how they measure data security threats and whether they warned against testing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where China has been accused of being 'engaged in genocide of the Uyghur population'.

The group responsible for the letter includes Representative John Moolenaar from Michigan, Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi from Illinois, Representative Anna Eshoo from California and Representative Neal Dunn from Florida. 

Rep. Moolenaar, Rep Dunn and Rep Krishnamoorthi are members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.  

Rep Eshoo has raised concerns about American healthcare data being shared with China before. 

In the letter, the representatives honed in on Eli Lilly's Alzheimer's drug donanemab, known as Kisunla and Pfizer's kidney cancer drug axitinib, known as Inlyta, Axios reported. 

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These trials were run at military-affiliated hospitals. 

According to the investigation, Lilly's trials were run at the People's Liberation Army's general hospital and medical school and the military's Air Force Medical University. 

Pfizer's trial was conducted at a hospital under the People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Sciences, according to Fierce Pharma. 

These kinds of trials produce 'sensitive and proprietary data', that may be difficult to keep secure if they are run at a CCP-sponsored site, the representatives said. 

In addition, the quality of their data was called into question. 

'There are also concerns with the trustworthiness of clinical trial data produced overseas from PLA institutions,' the letter states. 

'The United States needs the FDA to take on a greater role in protecting U.S. national security interests.'

China's brutal 're-education camps' are being used to repress the ethnic minority (Detainees in a Xinjiang camp are pictured)

This comes amid a greater crack down on Chinese biotech companies. The House Select Committee will be voting on an Act in September to suspend contracts with Chinese biotech firms who the committee has identified as posing a potential national security risk. 

On top of concerns about data, the representatives highlight potential human rights issues. A 2022 report from the United Nations accused China of detaining more than a millions Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, sending them to forced labor camps. 

Inside these camps, international officials have alleged that the CCP has sanctioned forced sterilization, rape, torture and genocide against the Uyghurs. Most of these camps are housed in the XUAR. 

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The letter said some research has been conducted within in the region, raising doubts that the participants took place willingly. The letter reads: 'there is simply no ability for firms to conduct due diligence to ensure that clinical trials done in XUAR are voluntary.'

The FDA has said they will respond to the lawmakers claims. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Eli Lilly and Pfizer representatives for comment.  

Eli Lilly told DailyMail.com: 'Lilly conducts clinical trials around the world to ensure diversity in our research and increase access to our medicines. 

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Lilly is committed to IP protections, and we conduct robust assessments of our partners to ensure they meet Lilly standards for research and data privacy. Further, we oversee their activities when conducting clinical trials to ensure quality and data integrity.'