It's the claim they're making, I don't know. Nature hasn't commented publicly at this stage. If it was a flat-out rejection, the spin on the story may be an at

It's the claim they're making, I don't know. Nature hasn't commented publicly at this stage. If it was a flat-out rejection, the spin on the story may be an attempt to smooth things over and leave the door open to collaboration with Nature in the future. It comes across as the opposite of vindictive, and there's really no way this story makes Nature look bad with the authors saying this. On the other hand, if Nature had rejected it outright and then LK-99 is the real deal, I think that could have been embarassing for them.