The life sciences community is splintering over how the U.S. should respond to China's rapid biotech advances — specifically over whether more protectionist policies are needed to preserve American dominance.
Why it matters: The debate features a complicated web of national security concerns, high-stakes financial interests and, ultimately, the question of what is best for patients.
Proposals in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma to tighten state oversight of fertility services could make in vitro fertilization a political target and encroach on personal medical decisions, a group of physicians wrote in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Why it matters: An overwhelming majority of Americans support access to assisted reproductive services, yet the field remains a flashpoint for anti-abortion conservatives.
Academic scientists, biotech executives and investors, and patient advocacy groups are sounding alarms over the Trump administration's plans to add political reviews to the process for making research grants.
Why it matters: America's status as the world leader in science and innovation is threatened by China's meteoric rise, and critics of the proposal are warning it would undermine the U.S. research infrastructure at precisely the wrong moment.
