BINSA Act
Sponsored By: Senator Ricketts, Pete [R-NE]
Introduced
Summary
Expands Defense Production Act controls to cover biotechnology outbound licensing and investments. The bill would tighten screening, require rulemaking on what counts as covered biotechnology, and order a near-term Defense Department assessment on capital flows to China.
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- U.S. biotech companies and researchers would face new limits on outbound licensing, joint ventures, and certain equity deals with covered foreign persons. The bill defines biotechnology to include pharmaceutical and biological products, therapeutic platforms, clinical development capabilities, manufacturing know‑how, and related intellectual property.
- Investors and corporate planners would need to navigate a prohibited or notifiable transaction framework for cross-border biotech deals. Congress cites about $136 billion in 2025 cross-border out‑licensing between U.S./European firms and Chinese biotech firms as a motivating concern.
- The Treasury Secretary must write mandatory rules, after consulting HHS, the Department of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence, to set geographic and substantive boundaries and to exclude agricultural biotech, non‑pharma industrial fermentation, and basic academic research. The Secretary of Defense must deliver an unclassified assessment to Congress within 60 days on whether U.S. capital and licensing into China’s biotech sector threaten national security.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.
Tighter biotech licensing and investment rules
If enacted, this bill would add "biotechnology" to the Defense Production Act's prohibited and notifiable technology lists. It would bar licensing of certain drugs, biological products, therapeutic compounds, and related know‑how to covered foreign persons, effective on enactment. It would also require the Treasury Secretary to issue a rule within one year that defines which biotech activities are covered, after consulting HHS, DoD, and the Director of National Intelligence. The rule must exclude agricultural biotechnology, non‑pharmaceutical industrial fermentation, and basic academic research with no direct therapeutic application.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Ricketts, Pete [R-NE]
NE • R
Cosponsors
Sen. Slotkin, Elissa [D-MI]
MI • D
Sponsored 8/6/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.gov