This week, we received a flurry of inquiries from pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies about India’s capabilities. Companies asked about drug discovery, toxicology, pre-clinical research, IND-enabling studies, human clinical trials and more.
The immediate trigger was the news on June 8, 2026, that the U.S. Department of Defense added WuXi AppTec to its list of “Chinese military companies (the 1260H list), saying the company is indirectly tied to Chinese state ownership and, ultimately, to the People’s Liberation Army.
But the slow-burning fuse had been lit when the BIOSECURE Act became law last December. This law calls for the U.S. to identify “”biotechnology company of concern” soon. Once that designation is finalized, and the prohibition starts to phase in U.S. federal agencies generally can’t buy from, contract with, or fund work that relies on that company’s equipment or service.
Since so many drug and device companies operating in the United States, regardless of ownership, depend on American government funding for their early research, this has far-reaching consequences. Qualifying and then trusting a new CRO or CDMO takes time, so the companies that start now are the ones who’ll be ready when the rules bite. This isn’t a judgment on the quality of Chinese CDMOs, which is excellent. It’s a response to a U.S. procurement reality that companies now have to plan around.
For new programs, the math is simple: start fresh, find sources outside China
Why India? To be fair much work will migrate to Korea, Taiwan, Canada and Europe. But India has low-cost, reliable, English-speaking capacity. Here are more reasons:
The U.S. government considers India a safe, reliable, trustworthy supply chain partner across a range of crucial sectors not just biotech. I am talking defense, critical minerals such as rare earths, energy and semiconductors.
India is outside the line of fire. The entire BIOSECURE/1260H apparatus is built around Chinese-adversary concerns. Indian CDMOs simply don’t carry that designation risk, which removes the single biggest variable U.S. federal-facing customers now have to underwrite.
India can speak to the full pipeline, not just fill-finish. Since WuXi’s hardest-to-replace value is in discovery and early development, Indian partners that can credibly take on medicinal chemistry, intermediates, and early-stage development — not just late-stage manufacturing — directly address the gap analysts say is hardest to close.
De-risking, not just cost. The old pitch for offshore partners was price. The new pitch is supply-chain certainty and federal-eligibility. India lets a sponsor diversify away from concentration in Chinese suppliers without absorbing a Western-CDMO cost structure.
More and more global companies want to diversify their supply chains. My colleagues and I have been working with India for more than two decades. Over time the flurry from this week will become a flood. Executives who move first will be at an advantage.
I’ll be at BIO 2026 in San Diego starting from June 22nd to 25th, and am setting aside time to talk through exactly this with sponsors who are mapping out their next move. If you’re weighing how to diversify your discovery and early-development sourcing — or just want to understand what a credible India strategy looks like in practice, let’s connect. If you are registered for partnering, you can find me here else email my colleague deepan at amritt dot com with your name, company title and phone number and we will reach out to you
Last updated: June 14th, 2026
