A recent study found that China now conducts more early-stage clinical trials than the United States. In 2025, Chinese companies accounted for nearly half of global pharmaceutical licensing deal activity.
Clinical Research and Medical Innovation
Clinical trials have driven medical progress for nearly 80 years, transforming scientific discoveries into treatments that save lives. They establish whether new therapies are safe and effective, generating evidence that physicians, patients, and regulators use to make decisions.
However, clinical trials do more than generate evidence. They attract investment, scientific talent, and the infrastructure that supports future innovation. When clinical research moves overseas, those advantages often move with it.
The United States cannot afford to surrender this strategic advantage. Clinical research creates high-skilled jobs, gives patients earlier access to innovative therapies, and strengthens a sector that directly affects economic prosperity, public health, and national security.
Government Efforts to Restore America’s Position
Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services is taking action to strengthen America’s clinical research enterprise and bring more clinical research and investment back to the United States.
The FDA, NIH, CMS, ONC, ARPA-H, and the HHS Office of Inspector General have launched a coordinated effort to achieve this goal. The FDA is clarifying expectations for sponsors, streamlining Phase 1 development, and developing a pilot program to accelerate early-stage clinical trials.
The NIH is strengthening support for informative, well-powered clinical trials while advancing artificial intelligence, human cell-based models, real-world data, and other tools that can move promising therapies to patients more efficiently.
These efforts pursue a straightforward objective: make the United States the best place in the world to conduct clinical research and develop new medicines.
Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
