Biotech Leaders Call for a Free Press

Recently, John Maraganore, Ron Cohen, Jeremy Levin, and I wrote a letter strongly objecting to the President's unremitting attacks on the Press.  

We believe that freedom of speech, as embodied in a free press, is essential to the free exchange of ideas that is at the foundation of scientific discourse and, hence, biotechnology (not to mention a functional democracy).  Life science has an unfortunate history of being undermined by ideology.  It is critical for those of us who have assumed the responsibility for transforming that science into safe and effective new medicines to stand firm against any effort that would undermine the basis of scientific discourse.  That is a path down a rabbit hole to a land in which facts are met with equal validity by alternative facts and the truth becomes the dictate of the politically and economically powerful.

The letter we wrote was circulated among our colleagues in the industry.  Over 150 biotech leaders joined us as signatories.  The letter was recently published in Nature Biotechnology and be found at:

https://bioengineeringcommunity.nature.com/channels/1821-nature-biotechnology/posts/38970-biotech-leaders-call-for-free-press

Brady Huggett, the editor of the journal, interviewed us and wrote an accompanying editorial which is an accurate representation of our discussions with him.  It can be found at:
 
https://www.nature.com/articles/nbt.4280