The Trump administration’s controversial decision to ban all travel from seven largely Muslim countries has resulted in opposition from the biotechnology industry. On February 7, in a letter published in Nature Biotechnology, almost 170 biotech executives stated that the ban was “poorly conceived and implemented,” and that it is adversely affecting their companies. In the letter, executives cited a 2014 study that concluded that 52% of the 69,000 biomedical researchers in the US are immigrants, stating that it is largely due to the recruitment of foreign-born researchers that the US biotech industry is as robust as it is. The letter declared that US biotech market is unique, not only due to the amount of capital that the country is able to pour into drug discovery, but also due to the varied national backgrounds of employees. The letter was signed by 166 biotech executives from private companies, venture capital firms and academia, including Daphne Zohar from PureTech Health, Gregory Flesher from OticPharma and Herve Hoppenot of Incyte.

Source: Nature