Senate Passes Biosecure Act

Congress is closing out the year with moves that could significantly impact the pharmaceutical industry.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed the Defense Bill, sending it to President Trump’s desk to approve, Reuters reports.¹ While the bill is a massive piece of legislation that covers a wide variety of spending issues, it also includes the Biosecure Act. If the act becomes law, it will bar certain Chinese biotech companies from receiving federal funds.

What is included in the Biosecure Act?

The current version of the act is from October, 2025. According to a Hogan Lovell summary of the act,² the core goal of the act is to prevent executive agencies from obtaining biotechnology equipment or services from biotech companies labeled as being “of concern.”

Grants, loans, and cooperative agreements are also impacted by the act.

According to Hogan Lovell, a company is labeled as “of concern” if it is labeled as such by the Office of Management and Budget and/or is included on the Department of Defense’s section 1260H list of Chinese military companies.

The latest version of the bill also clarifies how overseas government personnel are impacted by these changes and allowed for their dependents to be included in these carve outs.

This vote comes on the heels of a dramatic turn of events in the House. Earlier this week, four Republican representatives from New York and Pennsylvania broke from party ranks to join a Democrat effort to force a vote on legislation to extend ACA tax credits that originated from the IRA.

The four Republicans are:

• Brian Fitzpatrick, Pennsylvania
• Robert Bresnahan, Pennsylvania
• Ryan Mackenzie, Pennsylvania
• Mike Lawler, New York

The Senate previously voted down a similar effort in early December. However, the new proposal in the House has enough support to force a vote in the lower chamber. While minority leader Hakeem Jefferies stated that he hoped to push the vote up so that it happened before the holiday break, it’s possible that it may not occur until January.

The ending of the tax credits would result in higher premiums for healthcare customers across the country. The issue has been at the center of the political conversation for the past several months.

In October, disagreements over the tax credits resulted in the government shutting down until mid-November. Democrats had initially pushed to keep the government closed until a deal was struck on the tax credits.

However, a small number of Democrat Senators broke ranks and agreed to vote to reopen the government based on a promise by the Republicans to hold a vote in December. That vote, however, did not pass and did not have any guarantees for the House or the White House.

The latest vote and pending approval of the Biosecure Act may reveal where the GOP’s legislative strategy is headed in the coming year. The vote would suggest that the Republican agenda is more focused on building American biotech business than it is on the actual healthcare costs placed upon patients.

The administration has taken more direct steps to bring down drug prices, such as the introduction of TrumpRx. The government run site will sell medication DTC and reduced prices, although early reports suggest that the discounts may be based on the drugs’ list prices as opposed to the prices people tend to pay at the pharmacy. The President has also pushed for a significant increase in domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Sources

1. Massive defense bill passes US Congress, including troop pay, Ukraine and social issues. Reuters. December 17, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/massive-defense-bill-passes-us-congress-including-troop-pay-ukraine-social-2025-12-17/
2. Updated: BIOSECURE to be enacted following Senate passage. Hogan Lovell. December 17, 2025. https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/publications/updated-biosecure-to-be-enacted-following-senate-passage