House Oversight Chair Comer looks to enlist FDA in China rivalry

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, believes FDA should become a combatant in “economic warfare” with China. In a letter to FDA Commissioner Rob Califf, Comer said the pharmaceutical industry is a battleground, and he pressed the agency to explain how it is defending it.

In addition to calling for FDA to participate in an all-of-government conflict with China, Comer called for stepped up inspections of Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and warned that China’s enforcement of a counter-espionage law puts FDA inspectors at risk of arrest...