September 10, 2020 (CAMBRIDGE, MA) – The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio®) today announced that 164 CEOs representing the breadth of the life sciences have signed its Open Letter 2.0 – The CEO Pledge for a More Equitable and Inclusive Life Sciences Industry. This pledge serves as a call to action for CEOs across the life sciences to create change within their respective organizations and is a critical component of MassBio’s expanded equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I) initiative rolled out earlier this year.
By signing this letter, a CEO recognizes that racial inequity exists in the life sciences industry and in his/her company and is taking responsibility to fix that injustice through comprehensive ED&I initiatives that are broad in scope, specific in action, and measurable in results. The pledge is a long-term commitment dedicated to moving the industry forward over the next several years. The CEOs that signed the letter represent small and emerging biotechs, midsized companies, and large biopharmaceutical companies.
“Decades-long systematic racism and healthcare inequities plague our nation, and we must eradicate that from our industry whose mission is to treat, cure, and heal. That is the impetus behind MassBio’s Open Letter 2.0 – to ensure companies from across the life sciences are taking measurable steps to address these issues,” said Edie Stringfellow, Director of Diversity and Inclusion, MassBio. “MassBio is heartened by the response to the pledge and applaud the unwavering commitment of these CEO signers to address equity, diversity, and inclusion. I look forward to working with each CEO to implement broad, lasting change in the life sciences in the coming years.”
The pledge outlines six areas that must be addressed. These include: leadership and executive culture, inclusive company culture, recruitment, retention and development, accountability and sustainability, and supplier diversity. Each pillar outlines several opportunities for a company to improve in that specific area and a CEO must commit him or herself to at least one of the actions.
“There is still so much to be done to promote racial equity in our society, and we as leaders in the life sciences have a responsibility and a tremendous opportunity to drive change within our own companies and lift up our community more broadly,” said Cindy Perettie, CEO, Foundation Medicine. “Our goal in supporting this critical initiative is not only to move our own industry forward, but to inspire and push others as well.”
“We’re living through an unprecedented time, and one where our industry is viewed as offering critical solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Chip Clark, President and CEO, Genocea Biosciences, Inc. “The life sciences must capitalize on this opportunity not only to help heal the world, but also to demonstrate leadership through immediate and sustained actions addressing racial and social injustices that have long suppressed minority populations. I’m proud to sign the Pledge and commit myself and my company to such necessary actions.”
In developing this letter, MassBio also acknowledges its role as a leader in the industry and pledges itself to assist the cohort of CEO signers as needed through one-on-one meetings, forums, and shared resources.
You can read the full letter and view the CEOs who have pledged their name here. To learn more about MassBio’s ongoing work to improve equity, diversity, and inclusion in the life sciences, please visit: https://www.massbio.org/initiatives/equity-diversity-and-inclusion/.
Open Letter 2.0 Signers
| Acceleron Pharma | Habib | Dable | CEO |
| Accent Therapeutics | Shakti | Narayan | CEO |
| Addgene | Joanne | Kamens | Executive Director |
| Agios Pharmaceuticals | Jackie | Fouse | CEO |
| Akili | Eddie | Martucci | President & CEO |
| Aldeyra Therapeutics | Todd | Brady | President & CEO |
| Aleta Biotherapeutics | Mark | Leuchtenberger | Executive Chairman |
| Alexion | Ludwig | Hantson | CEO |
| Alkermes | Richard | Pops | Chairman & CEO |
| Ally Therapeutics | Tina | Liu | CEO |
| Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | John | Maraganore | CEO |
| ALS Therapy Development Institute | Steven | Perrin | CEO |
| Anelixis Therapeutics | Steven | Perrin | CEO |
| Anika Therapeutics | Cheryl | Blanchard | President & CEO |
| Anokion | John | Hohneker | President & CEO |
| Apellis Pharmaceuticals | Cedric | Francois | CEO |
| Aphios Corporation | Trevor | Castor | CEO |
| Arranta Bio | Mark | Bamforth | President & CEO |
| Arthrosurface | Steven | Ek | Co-Founder |
| Atalanta Therapeutics | Alicia | Secor | President & CEO |
| Aviceda Therapeutics | Mohamed | Genead, MD | CEO & Co-Founder |
| AVROBIO | Geoff | MacKay | CEO |
| AxoSim | Lowry | Curley | CEO |
| Bayer U.S. LLC | Philip | Blake | President |
| BigBio Communications | Tilton | Little | CEO |
| BioAgilytix | Jim | Datin | CEO |
| Biogen | Michel | Vounatsos | CEO |
| Biotech Vendor Services, Inc. | Pamela | Gardner | President & CEO |
| bluebird bio | Nick | Leschly | CEO |
| Blueprint Medicines | Jeff | Albers | CEO |
| Boston Pharmaceuticals | Rob | Armstrong | CEO |
| CairnSurgical, Inc. | David | Danielsen | CEO |
| Captivate Bio | Tanya | Potcova | Founder & CEO |
| Casma | Keith | Dionne | CEO |
| Cedilla Therapeutics | Alexandra | Glucksmann | President & CEO |
| Celdara Medical, LLC | Jake | Reder | President & CEO |
| Cellanyx | Guy | Fish | CEO |
| Cellino | Nabiha | Saklayen | CEO & Co-Founder |
| Cend Therapeutics, Inc. | David | Slack | President & CEO |
| Cerevel Therapeutics | Tony | Coles | Chairman & CEO |
| Checkmate Pharmaceuticals | Barry | Labinger | President & CEO |
| Codiak BioSciences | Douglas | Williams | President & CEO |
| Cohere Business Strategies | Jeffrey | Kiplinger | Owner & Principal |
| ConcertAI | Jeff | Elton | CEO |
| Constellation Pharmaceuticals | Jigar | Raythatha | CEO |
| Danforth Advisors | Chris | Connors | President |
| Decibel Therapeutics | Laurence | Reid | CEO |
| Deciphera Pharmaceuticals | Steve | Hoerter | CEO |
| Disc Medicine, Inc. | John | Quisel | President & CEO |
| eClinical Solutions LLC | Raj | Indupuri | CEO |
| EMD Serono | Rehan | Verjee | President – EMD Serono |
| Empiriko | Pam | Randhawa | CEO |
| Emulate | Jim | Corbett | CEO |
| Entasis Therapeutics | Manos | Perros | President & CEO |
| Entera Bio | Adam | Gridley | CEO |
| Epizyme, Inc | Robert | Bazemore | President & CEO |
| EQRx, Inc. | Alexis | Borisy | Founder, Chairman & CEO |
| Evelo Biosciences | Simba | Gill | CEO |
| FerGene | David | Meek | CEO |
| Finch Therapeutics | Mark | Smith | CEO |
| Flexion Therapeutics | Michael | Clayman | CEO |
| FOG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Greg | Verdine | Chairman & CEO |
| Forma Therapeutics | Frank | Lee | CEO |
| Foundation Medicine | Cindy | Perettie | CEO |
| Frequency Therapeutics | David | Lucchino | President & CEO |
| g.Root Biomedical Services, Inc. | Chesley | Chen | CEO |
| Gamida Cell Therapies | Julian | Adams | CEO |
| GelMEDIX | Jeff | Behrens | CEO |
| Genentech | Alexander | Hardy | CEO |
| Genocea | Chip | Clark | CEO |
| Genuity Science | Rob | Brainin | CEO |
| German Accelerator Life Sciences | Marc | Filerman | CEO |
| Goldfinch Bio | Anthony | Johnson | President & CEO |
| Graticule | Daniel | Poscover | CEO |
| GreenLight Biosciences | Andrey | Zarur | CEO |
| Gritstone Oncology | Andrew | Allen | CEO |
| Halloran Consulting Group | Laurie | Halloran | President & CEO |
| HealthScape LifeSciences LLC | Helene | Clayton-Jeter | Founder & CEO |
| Hiller Life Sciences Strategies, LLC | Arthur | Hiller | Owner and Principal |
| Ikena Oncology | Mark | Manfredi | CEO |
| InnoGenomics Technologies, LLC | Sudhir | Sinha | CEO |
| Ipsen | Richard | Paulson | CEO, Ipsen North America |
| Jnana Therapeutics | Joanne | Kotz | CEO |
| Jounce Therapetuics | Richard | Murray | CEO |
| Karuna Therapeutics | Steve | Paul | Chairman, President & CEO |
| Kymera Therapeutics | Nello | Mainolfi | Founder, President & CEO |
| LaVoieHealthScience | Donna | LaVoie | CEO |
| Life Biosciences Inc. | Mehmood | Khan | CEO |
| Life Science Cares | Sarah | MacDonald | Executive Director |
| LifeMine Therapeutics | Greg | Verdine | President & CEO |
| MacDougall Advisors | Kari | Watson | Co-Founder & Managing Partner |
| Magenta Therapeutics | Jason | Gardner | President & CEO |
| Massachusetts Life Sciences Center | Damon | Cox | Interim President & CEO |
| MassBio | Robert | Coughlin | President & CEO |
| Medley Genomics | Patrice | Milos | Co-Founder & CEO |
| Mersana Therapeutics | Anna | Protopapas | President & CEO |
| MilliporeSigma | Chris | Ross | Sector Head |
| Morphic Therapeutic | Praveen | Tipirneni | President & CEO |
| MorphoSys | Jean-Paul | Kress | CEO |
| Navitor Pharmaceuticals | Tom | Hughes | CEO |
| Nimbus Therapeutics | Jeb | Keiper | CEO |
| North Shore InnoVentures | Christopher | Ilsley | CEO & President |
| Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research | Jay | Bradner | President |
| Nuritas | Nora | Khaldi | Founder & CEO |
| Obatala Sciences, Inc | Trivia | Frazier | President & CEO |
| Ohana Biosciences | Amber | Salzman | CEO |
| Ophthalmic Therapeutic Innovation | Tina Guanting | Qiu | Principal/Chief Strategic Innovation |
| Ora, Inc. | Jeanne | Hecht | CEO |
| Orchard Therapeutics | Bobby | Gaspar | Co-Founder & CEO |
| Pfizer | Albert | Bourla | Chairman & CEO |
| PHASTAR | Kevin | Kane | CEO & Founder |
| Pieris Pharmaceuticals | Stephen | Yoder | President & CEO |
| Quanterix | Kevin | Hrusovsky | Chairman and CEO |
| Quench Bio, Inc. | Samantha | Truex | CEO |
| Relay Therapeutics | Sanjiv | Patel | CEO |
| ReNetX Bio | Erika | Smith | CEO |
| Rheos Medicines | Barbara | Fox | CEO |
| ROME Therapeutics | Rosana | Kapeller | President & CEO |
| Rubius Therapeutics | Pablo | Cagnoni | President & CEO |
| Rubix LS | Reginald | Swift | Founder & CEO |
| Saniona | Rami | Levin | President & CEO |
| Sanofi | Bill | Sibold | President, Sanofi, North America |
| Sarepta Therapeutics | Douglas | Ingram | President & CEO |
| scPharma | John | Tucker | CEO |
| Seeding Labs | Melissa | Wu | CEO |
| Servier Pharmaceuticals LLC | David | Lee | CEO |
| SmartPharm Therapeutics | José | Trevejo | CEO & Co-Founder |
| Society for Participatory Medicine | Daniel | Sands | Co-Chair & Co-Founder |
| Solid Biosciences | Ilan | Ganot | CEO |
| Spero Therapeutics | Ankit | Mahadevia | CEO |
| STEIN+PARTNERS | Alice | Stein | President & Founder |
| Stoke Therapeutics | Edward | Kaye | CEO & Director |
| Surface Oncology | Jeff | Goater | President & CEO |
| Synlogic Therapeutics | Aoife | Brennan | President & CEO |
| Syros | Nancy | Simonian | President & CEO |
| Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company | Ramona | Sequeira | President, US Business Unit and Global Portfolio Commercialization |
| Talaria Antibodies Inc | Shawna | Wicks | CEO |
| Talaris Therapeutics | Scott | Requadt | CEO |
| Tango Therapeutics | Barbara | Weber | President & CEO |
| Ten Bridge Communications | Dan | Quinn | CEO |
| The BioPharma Hub | Steve | Woit | Executive Director |
| The M1 Project, llc | Jim | Murphy | President |
| The NemetzGroup LLC | Susan | Nemetz | CEO & Founder |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. | Marc | Casper | Chairman, President & CEO |
| Third Rock Ventures | Abbie | Celniker | Partner |
| Tiburio Therapeutics | Abraham | Ceesay | CEO |
| TMS BioScience Labs | Pleasant | Hooper | President |
| Translate Bio | Ron | Renaud | CEO |
| Triplet Therapeutics | Nessan | Bermingham | CEO |
| Tunnell Consulting | Maryann | Gallivan | President & CEO |
| UCB | Duane | Barnes | President and Head, U.S. Operations |
| Unum Therapeutics Inc. | Chuck | Wilson | President & CEO |
| Upshift Innovation | Travis | McCready | Founder & Principal |
| USH Consulting LLC | Simone | Azevedo | CEO/Founder |
| Vedanta Biosciences | Bernat | Olle | CEO |
| Verve Therapeutics | Sekar | Kathiresan | CEO |
| Vir Biotechnology | George | Scangos | CEO |
| Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology (WEST) | Meena | Subramanyam | President |
| X4 Pharmaceuticals | Paula | Ragan | CEO |
| X-Biotix Therapeutics, Inc. | Ramani | Varanasi | President & CEO |
| Xilio Therapeutics | Rene | Russo | CEO |
| Xontogeny | Chris | Garabedian | CEO |
| Yumanity Therapeutics | Richard | Peters | CEO |
| Zealand Pharma | Emmanuel | Dulac | President & CEO |