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Biotech leaders call for free press

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Acknowledgements

This letter represents solely the individual and personal views of the authors and signatories, and not those of their employers, companies, universities or any other organization or agency.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Acorda Therapeutics, Ardsley, New York, USA

    Ron Cohen

  2. Decibel Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Steven Holtzman

  3. New Milford, Connecticut, USA

    Jeremy M Levin

  4. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    John M Maraganore

  5. Quentis Therapeutics, Inc., New York, New York, USA

    Michael Aberman

  6. Cydan II, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Chris Adams

  7. Gamida Cell, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Julian Adams

  8. Blueprint Medicines, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Jeffrey Albers

  9. Veracyte, Inc., South San Francisco, California, USA

    Bonnie Anderson

  10. Health Catalysts Group, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Mara G Aspinall

  11. Constellation Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    James E Audia

  12. Principa Biopharma, South San Francisco, California, USA

    Martin Babler

  13. Caltech, Pasadena, California, USA

    David Baltimore

  14. Moderna, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Stephane Bancel

  15. Atlas Venture, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Peter Barrett

  16. ZappRx, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Zoe Barry

  17. MIT/Whitehead Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    David Bartel

  18. BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Novato, California, USA

    Jean-Jacques Bienaime

  19. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., Ardsley, New York, USA

    Burkhard Blank

  20. Cytokinetics, Inc., South San Francisco, California, USA

    Robert I Blum

  21. Equillium, Inc., La Jolla, California, USA

    Daniel M Bradbury

  22. Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Eugene Braunwald

  23. Akebia Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    John P Butler

  24. Novo Nordisk (retired), Seattle, Washington, USA

    Bruce Carter

  25. Morphic Therapeutic, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

    Gustav Christensen

  26. Atara Biotherapeutics, South San Francisco, California, USA

    Isaac Ciechanover

  27. Genocea Biosciences, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Chip Clark

  28. Cardinal Partners, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    John K Clarke

  29. Flexion Therapeutics, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael D Clayman

  30. Graybug Vision, Redwood City, California, USA

    Jeffrey L Cleland

  31. Lyme Properties 2, LLC, West Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA

    David Clem

  32. Yumanity Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    N Anthony Coles

  33. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Charles L Cooney

  34. MassBio, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert K Coughlin

  35. Csimma LLC, Lincoln, Massachusetts, USA

    Zoltan Csimma

  36. IRC, CGIR, LLC, Savannah, Georgia, USA

    Sally J Curley

  37. Xencor, Monrovia, California, USA

    Bassil Dahiyat

  38. ProQR Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Daniel A de Boer

  39. Aura Biosciences Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Elisabet de los Pinos

  40. Department of Cancer Biology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA

    Ronald A DePinho

  41. MaxCyte Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA

    Douglas Doerfler

  42. Dornbusch & Company, Oakland, California, USA

    Daniel Dornbusch

  43. Aldeyra Therapeutics, Lexington, Massachusetts, USA

    Richard H Douglas

  44. Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals, København, Denmark

    Deborah Dunsire

  45. Third Rock Ventures, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Neil Exter

  46. PaxVax, Redwood City, California, USA

    Nima Farzan

  47. Atlas Venture, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Jean-François Formela

  48. Verastem, Inc., Needham, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert Forrester

  49. Cambridge BioMarketing, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Maureen N Franco

  50. Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Crestwood, Kentucky, USA

    Cedric Francois

  51. Blaze Bioscience Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA

    Heather Franklin

  52. Relypsa, a Vifor Pharma Group Company, Redwood City, California, USA

    Scott Garland

  53. Evelo Biosciences, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Simba Gill

  54. The Column Group, San Francisco, California, USA

    David V Goeddel

  55. Trevena Inc., Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA

    Maxine Gowen

  56. Intarcia Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Kurt Graves

  57. Gray Strategic Advisors, LLC, New York, New York, USA

    Mary Ann Gray

  58. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Barry Greene

  59. Imbria Pharmaceuticals, Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA

    David-Alexandre C Gros

  60. Gossamer Bio, San Diego, California, USA

    Faheem Hasnain

  61. Science History Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Michael Hammerschmidt

  62. Redpin Therapeutics, New York, New York, USA

    Elma S Hawkins

  63. Hydra Biosciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Russell Herndon

  64. Nkarta Therapeutics, South San Francisco, California, USA

    Paul Hastings

  65. Acorda Therapeutics, Ardsley, New York, USA

    Andrew Hindman

  66. Cell Medica, London, UK

    Annalisa Jenkins

  67. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School/MIT/Foghorn Therapeutics, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Cigall Kadoch

  68. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., Novato, California, USA

    Emil D Kakkis

  69. ProMIS Neurosciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Johanne Kaplan

  70. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Laurie Keating

  71. GlycoMimetics, Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Rachel King

  72. Virion Biotherapeutics LLC, London, UK

    Vanessa King

  73. MacroGenics Inc., Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Scott Koenig

  74. RA Capital Management, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Peter Kolchinsky

  75. Insitro, South San Francisco, California, USA

    Daphne Koller

  76. Naples, Florida, USA

    Marc Kozin

  77. ViaCyte, San Diego, California, USA

    Paul Laikind

  78. MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert Langer

  79. LaVoieHealthScience, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Donna L LaVoie

  80. Decibel Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    John J Lee

  81. Deerfield Management, New York, New York, USA

    Jonathan Leff

  82. Tasso, Inc., Bellevue, Washington, USA

    Alan Levy

  83. Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Judy Lieberman

  84. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Christine Lindenboom

  85. Broad Institute/Howard Hughes Medical Institute/Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    David R Liu

  86. Assembly Biosciences, San Francisco, California, USA

    Uri Lopatin

  87. Global Blood Therapeutics, South San Francisco, California, USA

    Ted W Love

  88. MTS Health Partners, New York, New York, USA

    David N Low Jr

  89. Scholar Rock, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Nagesh K Mahanthappa

  90. Inspired Purpose Coaching LLC, Canton, Massachusetts, USA

    Tony Martignetti

  91. Akili Interactive Labs, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    W Eddie Martucci

  92. Biocon Pharma Inc., Iselin, New Jersey, USA

    Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

  93. Blueprint Medicines Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Tracey L McCain

  94. Pear Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Corey M McCann

  95. Skyworks Solutions, Inc., Woburn, Massachusetts, USA

    David J McLachlan

  96. KSQ Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    David Meeker

  97. MTS Health Partners, New York, New York, USA

    Ravi Mehrotra

  98. Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., San Diego, California, USA

    Steven J Mento

  99. Third Rock Ventures, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Rachel Meyers

  100. Visterra Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

    Gregory Miller

  101. Regenxbio Inc., Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Ken Mills

  102. Cognition Therapeutics, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Kenneth I Moch

  103. Exelixis, Inc., Alameda, California, USA

    Michael M Morrissey

  104. PTX Partner Therapeutics, Lexington, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert Mulroy

  105. Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Imran Nasrullah

  106. Sutro Biopharma, Inc., South San Francisco, California, USA

    William J Newell

  107. Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    John F Neylan

  108. Vedanta Biosciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Bernat Olle

  109. Marblehead, Massachusetts, USA

    Eric T Olson

  110. HealthCare Ventures, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Douglas E Onsi

  111. BioVentures/Egalet Corporation, Wayne, Pennsylvania, USA

    John E Osborn

  112. Millendo Therapeutics, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Julia C Owens

  113. Biogen Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Stelios Papadopoulos

  114. Karuna Pharmaceuticals, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Steve Paul

  115. Visterra, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Brian J G Pereira

  116. OncoPep, Inc., North Andover, Massachusetts, USA

    Doris Peterkin

  117. Third Rock Ventures, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Cary Pfeffer

  118. Intercept, New York, New York, USA

    Mark Pruzanski

  119. Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Gerald E Quirk

  120. Ardelyx, Inc., Fremont, California, USA

    Michael Raab

  121. X4 Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Paula Ragan

  122. Ovid Therapeutics, New York, New York, USA

    Amit Rakhit

  123. Grail/Neurocrine Biosciences/Fate Therapeutics/Daré Bioscience/Regulus Therapeutics, Rancho Santa Fe, California, USA

    Bill Rastetter

  124. Translate Bio, Lexington, Massachusetts, USA

    Ron Renaud

  125. Atlas Venture, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Jason P Rhodes

  126. 5AM Ventures, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Scott M Rocklage

  127. Flagship Pioneering, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael Rosenblatt

  128. Synergenics, LLC., San Francisco, California, USA

    William J Rutter

  129. Venrock, Palo Alto, California, USA

    Camille Samuels

  130. Contravir Pharmaceuticals, Edison, New Jersey, USA

    James Sapirstein

  131. Ocular Therapeutix, Bedford, Massachusetts, USA

    Amar Sawhney

  132. Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    David Scadden

  133. Vir Biotechnology, Inc., San Francisco, California, USA

    George Scangos

  134. Geron Corporation, Menlo Park, California, USA

    John A Scarlett

  135. Broad Institute/Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Stuart L Schreiber

  136. Lycera Corp., New York, New York, USA

    Paul J Sekhri

  137. Seres Therapeutics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Eric Shaff

  138. Puretech Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Bennett Shapiro

  139. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA

    Thomas Shenk

  140. Syros Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Nancy Simonian

  141. Deerfield Management, New York, New York, USA

    William Slattery

  142. ReNetX Bio, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Erika R Smith

  143. Equillium, Inc., La Jolla, California, USA

    Bruce Steel

  144. CognifiSense, Inc., Park City, Utah, USA

    Harald F Stock

  145. OncoResponse, Inc., Seattle, Washington, USA

    Clifford J Stocks

  146. Decibel Therapeutics Incorporated, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael Su

  147. Red Sky Partners, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Tim Surgenor

  148. UCB S.A., Brussels, Belgium

    Jean-Christophe Tellier

  149. Tracon Pharmaceuticals Inc., San Diego, California, USA

    Charles Theuer

  150. Alzheon, Framingham, Massachusetts, USA

    Martin Tolar

  151. Scripps Research Translational Institute/Molecular Medicine, La Jolla, California, USA

    Eric Topol

  152. Jounce Therapeutics, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Beth Trehu

  153. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Akshay K Vaishnaw

  154. Bio Point Group, Punta Gorda, Florida, USA

    Christi van Heek

  155. Unum Therapeutics Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Michael J Vasconcelles

  156. Navitor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    George P Vlasuk

  157. Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Michel Vounatsos

  158. ChEM-H Institute/Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

    Christopher T Walsh

  159. Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., Ardsley, New York, USA

    Jane Wasman

  160. MTS Health Partners LP, New York, New York, USA

    Andrew Weisenfeld

  161. Ovid Therapeutics, New York, New York, USA

    Yaron Werber

  162. TScan Therapeutics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Christoph Westphal

  163. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, San Diego, California, USA

    Wendell Wierenga

  164. Scottsdale, Arizona, USA

    Terry Winters

  165. ProMIS Neurosciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Eugene Williams

  166. Unum Therapeutics Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Chuck Wilson

  167. Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

    Peter Wirth

  168. Irras, San Diego, California, USA

    Kleanthis Xanthopoulos

  169. Nuvelution Pharma, Inc., South San Francisco, California, USA

    Sanford (Sandy) Zweifach

Authors
  1. Ron Cohen
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  2. Steven Holtzman
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  3. Jeremy M Levin
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  4. John M Maraganore
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Consortia

the Signatories to the Statement

  • Michael Aberman
  • , Chris Adams
  • , Julian Adams
  • , Jeffrey Albers
  • , Bonnie Anderson
  • , Mara G Aspinall
  • , James E Audia
  • , Martin Babler
  • , David Baltimore
  • , Stephane Bancel
  • , Peter Barrett
  • , Zoe Barry
  • , David Bartel
  • , Jean-Jacques Bienaime
  • , Burkhard Blank
  • , Robert I Blum
  • , Daniel M Bradbury
  • , Eugene Braunwald
  • , John P Butler
  • , Bruce Carter
  • , Gustav Christensen
  • , Isaac Ciechanover
  • , Chip Clark
  • , John K Clarke
  • , Michael D Clayman
  • , Jeffrey L Cleland
  • , David Clem
  • , N Anthony Coles
  • , Charles L Cooney
  • , Robert K Coughlin
  • , Zoltan Csimma
  • , Sally J Curley
  • , Bassil Dahiyat
  • , Daniel A de Boer
  • , Elisabet de los Pinos
  • , Ronald A DePinho
  • , Douglas Doerfler
  • , Daniel Dornbusch
  • , Richard H Douglas
  • , Deborah Dunsire
  • , Neil Exter
  • , Nima Farzan
  • , Jean-François Formela
  • , Robert Forrester
  • , Maureen N Franco
  • , Cedric Francois
  • , Heather Franklin
  • , Scott Garland
  • , Simba Gill
  • , David V Goeddel
  • , Maxine Gowen
  • , Kurt Graves
  • , Mary Ann Gray
  • , Barry Greene
  • , David-Alexandre C Gros
  • , Faheem Hasnain
  • , Michael Hammerschmidt
  • , Elma S Hawkins
  • , Russell Herndon
  • , Paul Hastings
  • , Andrew Hindman
  • , Annalisa Jenkins
  • , Cigall Kadoch
  • , Emil D Kakkis
  • , Johanne Kaplan
  • , Laurie Keating
  • , Rachel King
  • , Vanessa King
  • , Scott Koenig
  • , Peter Kolchinsky
  • , Daphne Koller
  • , Marc Kozin
  • , Paul Laikind
  • , Robert Langer
  • , Donna L LaVoie
  • , John J Lee
  • , Jonathan Leff
  • , Alan Levy
  • , Judy Lieberman
  • , Christine Lindenboom
  • , David R Liu
  • , Uri Lopatin
  • , Ted W Love
  • , David N Low Jr
  • , Nagesh K Mahanthappa
  • , Tony Martignetti
  • , W Eddie Martucci
  • , Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
  • , Tracey L McCain
  • , Corey M McCann
  • , David J McLachlan
  • , David Meeker
  • , Ravi Mehrotra
  • , Steven J Mento
  • , Rachel Meyers
  • , Gregory Miller
  • , Ken Mills
  • , Kenneth I Moch
  • , Michael M Morrissey
  • , Robert Mulroy
  • , Imran Nasrullah
  • , William J Newell
  • , John F Neylan
  • , Bernat Olle
  • , Eric T Olson
  • , Douglas E Onsi
  • , John E Osborn
  • , Julia C Owens
  • , Stelios Papadopoulos
  • , Steve Paul
  • , Brian J G Pereira
  • , Doris Peterkin
  • , Cary Pfeffer
  • , Mark Pruzanski
  • , Gerald E Quirk
  • , Michael Raab
  • , Paula Ragan
  • , Amit Rakhit
  • , Bill Rastetter
  • , Ron Renaud
  • , Jason P Rhodes
  • , Scott M Rocklage
  • , Michael Rosenblatt
  • , William J Rutter
  • , Camille Samuels
  • , James Sapirstein
  • , Amar Sawhney
  • , David Scadden
  • , George Scangos
  • , John A Scarlett
  • , Stuart L Schreiber
  • , Paul J Sekhri
  • , Eric Shaff
  • , Bennett Shapiro
  • , Thomas Shenk
  • , Nancy Simonian
  • , William Slattery
  • , Erika R Smith
  • , Bruce Steel
  • , Harald F Stock
  • , Clifford J Stocks
  • , Michael Su
  • , Tim Surgenor
  • , Jean-Christophe Tellier
  • , Charles Theuer
  • , Martin Tolar
  • , Eric Topol
  • , Beth Trehu
  • , Akshay K Vaishnaw
  • , Christi van Heek
  • , Michael J Vasconcelles
  • , George P Vlasuk
  • , Michel Vounatsos
  • , Christopher T Walsh
  • , Jane Wasman
  • , Andrew Weisenfeld
  • , Yaron Werber
  • , Christoph Westphal
  • , Wendell Wierenga
  • , Terry Winters
  • , Eugene Williams
  • , Chuck Wilson
  • , Peter Wirth
  • , Kleanthis Xanthopoulos
  •  & Sanford (Sandy) Zweifach

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Steven Holtzman or John M Maraganore.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

John Maraganore is CEO and board member of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and on the board of Agios Pharmaceuticals and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization. Steve Holtzman is president, CEO and board member of Decibel Therapeutics, and on the board of Molecular Partners. Ron Cohen is president and CEO of Acorda Therapeutics and a board member of VBL Therapeutics. Jeremy Levin is an officer at Ovid Therapeutics and on the board of Lundbeck A/S, Biocon Limited and ZappRX.

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Cohen, R., Holtzman, S., Levin, J. et al. Biotech leaders call for free press. Nat Biotechnol 36, 920–922 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4271

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4271

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