The New England Journal of Medicine 
10 SnATTUCK STPIEE* 30STCN MASSACHUSETTS 021 15-609A -TELEPHONE 51T '3J-9800 
OWNED ANO ?'_3L SHED 3V r Hc MASSACHUSE-3 medical. SCC:S~* 
OFFICE OF THE ECiTCS 
October 26, 1988 
Dr. James B. Wyngaarden 
Director 
National Institutes of Health 
Bethesda, MD 20892 
Dear Jim: 
I am writing to you about the statement you made to the Washingcon Post 
in an article by Larry Thompson published on October 19th. The article 
had to do with your decision to delay approval of gene transfer 
experiments by French Anderson, Steve Rosenberg, and Michael Blaese. 
Appearing before the RAC, Anderson was reputed to have initially 
withheld some written data "because he feared it would jeopardize his 
ability to publish the information in prestigious scientific journals." 
He apparently mentioned Science and the New England Journal of Medicine 
and I imagine this is what provoked you to say "The RAC will not be held 
hostage to the New England Journal of Medicine." 
I want to make two points: First, that the data Anderson was talking 
about were animal and in vitro studies that had not been submitted to 
the New England Journal and would not in any case be suitable for us. 
We were not involved , and Anderson evidently misspoke. Second, our 
policy is not to interfere with authors responding to requests for 
information from duly constituted government bodies. We have always 
made it quite clear to authors that we hope they will cooperate, as 
requested, in supplying needed information and that this will not 
jeopardize consideration of manuscripts subsequently submitted to the 
Journal . 
We currently have under review Steve Rosenberg's report on the use of 
TIL cells in the treatment of metastatic melanoma and have made it very 
clear to him that he should feel free to provide that information to any 
NIH committee requesting it. In fact, he has already sent the draft 
manuscript to the FDA and to the NIH Clinical Research Committee, 
correctly assuming that this is consistent with our policy. 
Furthermore, Steve told me that if he had been asked by the RAC for a 
copy of that manuscript he would have certainly complied, but there was 
no such request. 
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Recombinant DNA Research, Volume 13 
