(Yicai) June 13 -- US legislation that can ban federal contracts with certain Chinese biotech companies on national security grounds faced a setback after it was excluded from the final list of amendments to be discussed for inclusion in the country’s annual defense spending bill.

Only 350 of the nearly 1,400 amendments filed were included by the US House of Representatives Committee on Rules in the final list, and the Biosecure Act was not one of them, according to the results of the National Defense Authorization Act hearing held on June 11.

The NDAA is one of the most important legislative activities of the US Congress each year, as it lays out national defense priorities and policies and authorizes expenditure for the defence department. Congressional members had proposed the inclusion of the Biosecure Act into the NDAA amendments to speed its path to becoming law.

The US House’s oversight and accountability panel voted on May 15 to advance the Biosecure Act. According to the legislative process, to become law the bill still needs to be voted on and passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives before being signed by President Joe Biden.

BGI Group and WuXi AppTech were among the Chinese biotech firms named in the Biosecure Act. The latter told Yicai that it was informed about the act’s failure to make the NDAA list and will continue to closely monitor the legislative process.

Shares of Wuxi AppTec [SHA: 603259] closed 0.8 percent lower at CNY45 (USD6.20) each in Shanghai today, after gaining 6.9 percent yesterday. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 2359] lost 1.5 percent to HKD35.40 (USD4.53). It had soared 8.5 percent yesterday.

BGI Genomics [SHE: 300676], the listed arm of BGI Group, fell 0.8 percent to end at CNY38.12 a share in Shenzhen today.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione