{"id":512437,"date":"2026-01-13T05:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512437\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T05:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T05:17:19","slug":"investor-noubar-afeyan-warns-against-a-backlash-to-science-in-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/512437\/","title":{"rendered":"Investor Noubar Afeyan warns against a backlash to science in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Noubar Afeyan, one of biotech\u2019s top investors, warned in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flagshippioneering.com\/choosing-science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">annual letter <\/a>that a backlash against science in the U.S. could endanger U.S. life expectancy, take \u201ca sledgehammer\u201d to biotech innovation, and give China a scientific and economic edge.<\/p>\n<p>Afeyan\u2019s letter, sent through his company-building group Flagship Pioneering, was issued on the first day of the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. His writing builds on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2025\/10\/20\/moderna-founder-noubar-afeyan-science-attacks-go-beyond-vaccines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">remarks he made last year at the annual STAT Summit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He recalled being at a meeting of CEOs and government officials and being told by a former world leader that lenacapavir, a medicine made by Gilead Sciences that can prevent HIV with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/pharmalot\/2025\/06\/18\/fda-approves-gilead-hiv-prevention-drug-lenacapavir-yeztugo-next-best-thing-to-vaccine\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">just a twice-yearly injection<\/a>, was \u201ca man-made miracle.\u201d Then, Afeyan, who has founded hundreds of biotechnology companies, most famously Moderna, wrote that research cuts and political decisions endanger future medical advances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 plus daily coverage and analysis of the biotech sector \u2014 by subscribing to STAT+.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2014 Noubar Afeyan, one of biotech\u2019s top investors, warned in an annual letter that a backlash&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":512438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[150,64,69,10940,153059,152,49697,154,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-512437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-biotechnology","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-hiv-aids","12":"tag-jpm","13":"tag-pharmaceuticals","14":"tag-rfk-jr","15":"tag-stat","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115886099334176633","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}