Senator Todd Young on China, innovation, and the future of U.S. competitiveness on the Making Medicine podcast

Senator Todd Young (R-IN) joined Incubate Executive Director John Stanford on the Making Medicine podcast this week for a wide-ranging conversation on how biotechnology is shaping national security, economic competitiveness, and U.S.-China competition. As Chair of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, Young made it clear that the stakes go far beyond healthcare.

Biotech is a national security imperative.

Biotechnology is central to U.S. supply chains, defense capabilities, and geopolitical power. Young pointed to biotech applications that can support warfighters directly, including lighter and more resilient materials, shelf-stable blood, and supplies that do not require extended supply chains. He also emphasized the need for countermeasures against biological threats, including engineered pathogens.

China's biotech ambitions pose a strategic risk.

Young warned that U.S. dependence on China for critical biotech supply chains and manufacturing poses a real risk: "We cannot rely on our primary adversary China for key inputs into our economy." He cautioned that it would be cause for alarm if China were to lead the next era of biotech, noting that "We don't want the Chinese Communist Party to be shaping standards around transparency and openness and consumer protection or even designing new life forms.".

FDA modernization is critical to innovation.

A central theme of the conversation was speed. Young pointed to artificial intelligence as a potential game changer in cutting drug research and development timelines dramatically, potentially reducing timelines from a decade to just a few years. Without that kind of acceleration, the U.S. risks losing its competitive edge.

Young emphasized that a well-functioning FDA is critical to U.S. leadership. Ensuring the agency has the talent, resources, and tools to evaluate cutting-edge science quickly is essential to keeping life sciences innovation and investment in the United States.

Blunt drug pricing policies could backfire.

On drug pricing, Young warned that sweeping price controls would undermine the very innovation that sustains U.S. global leadership -- reducing investment, limiting future cures, and shifting costs rather than lowering them.

The real fix is both global and domestic.

Young emphasized that Americans are effectively subsidizing the rest of the world's medicines. Rather than importing foreign price controls, he suggested that federal officials should press other countries to pay their fair share to help bring down U.S. prices. "This administration has proven itself commendably very good at getting concessions from other countries as it relates to trade policy. Why not on biotech? Why haven't they shown such similar attention there?" he asked.

Young also pointed to targeted domestic reforms, including reining in abusive insurance practices and reforms affecting pharmacy benefit managers.

From biodefense to drug pricing to the future of the FDA, this episode offers a clear-eyed look at what it will take to keep the U.S. competitive in biotech in the years ahead. To hear Stanford and Senator Young's full conversation, check out the Making Medicine podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts!