October 7, 2020 Issue, Page 4 of 8

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Page 4 The Elk City News, Elk City, Oklahoma ‘Wednesday, October 7, 2020 Rapid testing can restore Opinion Page “ElkCituNews American confidence Serving Western Oklahoma since 1901 Price controls rob By Marie Fishpaw and Trump recently announced Kevin Pham that the federal government account for eight of every 10 U.S. virus-related deaths) shield and carefully social distance. The Heritage Foundation had purchased 150 million and those with comorbidities ° “For routine situations of patients of future One big factor keeping of the rapid test kits, for dis- officials from reopening tribution to states, tribes and possible contact (at grocery are at highest risk. The risk for children is quite small. stores, for example) Ameri- therapies economies and schools - and other jurisdictions. ordinary citizens from re- The administration should cans don’t need a screening It’s a good start. To really rally every public health test if they feel well, but they suming their normal lives - capitalize on rapid tests, the agency to publicize these should wear a mask or face By Peter J. Pitts is uncertainty. We know that president should take two facts and their implications President Trump just announced a sweeping execu- covering, and wash hands or people can get COVID-19 more steps: for testing and other mitiga- use hand sanitizer. tive order that’d forbid Medicare from paying more and infect others - even if * Empower patients to tion needs. This matters be- * “Before a high-contact for advanced medicines than any other developed they don’t look or feel sick. conduct at-home tests. The cause, as the nation moves to situation (e.g., on an airplane country. If we could determine tests require you to go toa deploy rapid tests as screen- who has the disease and who medical professional for the ing tools, it’s important that or in a theater), Americans This price control scheme, if implemented, would doesn’t, then those with CO- test. Why? Especially when they go where they can do should get a rapid screening sound a death knell for medical innovation -- and test first to increase safety VID could stay home and this test is so simple to per- the most good. potentially for many patients. the rest of us - especially form. Earlier this summer, Not every test is necessary and reduce fear.” Drug development is expensive, time-consuming, those at lower risk - could when I (Marie) got a not- for everyone in every situa- Americans need this kind and full of uncertainty. Just over 10 percent of ex- go about our lives. Unfor- so-rapid COVID-19 test, I tion. Screening tests serve a of clarity from our public perimental drugs that enter clinical trials ever earn tunately, we haven’t had a drove to a CVS and did my different public health pur- health officials, so they can the FDA’s stamp of approval. Successfully bringing a quick and easy way to test own test in the car - while pose than diagnostic tests, better assess their risks and single product to pharmacy shelves can take up to 15 for the presence of the dis- someone watched through a which are meant to identify their testing needs. ease. Until now. window. a specific pathogen in a sick Clarity can dispel much of years and cost over $2.5 billion. A good screening test ‘We can get and take home individual. To date, due to the uncertainty that has hin- Just look at the attempts to cure Alzheimer’s, the should be cheap, quick, DNA tests - even fertil- limits in technology, we've dered the nation’s response sixth leading cause of death in America. The FDA easy to administer, sensitive ity tests and food sensitivity essentially been using diag- to the pandemic. President has greenlit only four of the nearly 150 promising and broadly available. Last tests, which involve drawing nostic tests as screening tests Trump said that the govern- Alzheimer’s treatments that underwent clinical trials month, the FDA cleared a your own blood - all with- for screening purposes - a ment purchased the rapid in the last two decades. And all those medications new rapid coronavirus test out in-person supervision of very inefficient use of these tests to “support efforts to merely alleviate symptoms. There’s still no cure. from Abbott Laboratories medical professionals. Thistests. But these new rapid reopen . . economies and for use. It meets the first four should be no different. tests are suited perfectly for schools immediately and Despite these numerous expensive failures, investors criteria. Each test costs $5. It The administration should a large variety of situations (as) fast as they can.” If he and scientists keep trying, in the hopes that a suc- takes only 15 minutes to get modify the FDA’s emergen- and scenarios. cessful drug will recoup its R&D costs and make up takes the two additional results. It’s far more user- cy use authorization to allow A former CDC director, steps outlined above, he can for all the dead-ends along the way. Still, important friendly. (You don’t have to home testing. At a minimum, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, re- help millions of Americans scientific knowledge comes from every failed effort. stick the swab up your nose the president should call for cently suggested that CDC like earlier tests.) And it has “telehealth” supervision of clarify this way: conquer the unfounded fear And knowledge is power in pursuit of public health. This extensive research wouldn’t happen in any other a 97.1% sensitivity rate - the testing. “Americans in long-term that is keeping them trapped much better than the “tem- — Clarify who should take care or nursing homes must in their pandemic bunkers. nation. America’s relatively free market for medi- perature check” screening what test, when and why. get regular, frequent testing. Marie Fishpaw is the di- cines allows innovators to enjoy the fruits of their methods that fail to capture After nine painful months of * “Those in a high-risk rector of Domestic Policy labor. This incentivizes investors to put more dollars the 54% of patients with no experience, we know that not health category (diabetics or Studies at The Heritage towards the cures of tomorrow -- and explains why fever. everyone faces the same de- over 65, for example) should Foundation. A medical doc- USS. labs engineer the majority of the world’s new As for the fifth criterion, gree of risk of dying or com- take extra precautions even tor, Kevin Pham is a visit- medicines. well, we’re making prog- plications from COVID-19. in low-contact situations; ing health policy analyst at It’s a different story in countries with price controls. ress. President Donald The elderly (people over 65 namely, wear a mask or face Heritage. When government-run healthcare systems can dictate artificially low drug prices, research loses its allure. There would have been 117 fewer new drugs devel- Traveling the country and finding a nation divided oped between 1986 and 2004 if the United States had By Tennyson Benedict were a species of people I didn’t think anything tively as the stickers. Partic- imposed price controls, according to one University The Hartford Courant he’d never seen before. I ularly memorable were two could surpass _ meeting After visiting the site suspect this was due to the men in their 20s wearing someone with a connection of Connecticut study. where George Floyd was liberal stickers plastered on trucker caps and large belt to home, but in Escanaba, And price controls don’t merely hurt patients far into killed by Minneapolis po- my Jeep since November buckles. Their eyes never Michigan, a middle-aged the future, either. They have immediate, disastrous lice officers, my 20-year-old 2016. Most support policies left us. Feeling like pariahs, man knocked on my car win- brother and I crossed into like the Green New Deal, we avoided eye contact with dow and motioned towards effects. Many biotech companies don’t even bother South Dakota. but a provocative one reads them and the other custom- the anti-Trump sticker. Brac- launching their products in price-controlled nations It was a couple of days af- “Dump Trump.” The troop- ers. ing for the worst, I cracked -- the marginal revenue isn’t worth the costs. er let us go without further ter Donald Trump’s Fourth Tellingly, my only violent the window and asked, “Can of July speech at Mount questioning, but I wondered Thelp you?” It turned out he encounter occurred in a lib- Consider that Canadian and French patients can Rushmore. We were cruis- how differently things might eral city, in a liberal state, wanted to thank me for the access just 56 and 65 percent of all oncology drugs ing down a deserted stretch have gone if we weren’t at the hands of police. I at- sticker; he was an ardent invented worldwide between 2011 and 2018, respec- of rural highway when a white. tended a protest in Seattle Democrat. After 10 minutes state trooper pulled us over The stickers proved to be objecting to the presence of chatting about politics, tively. Patients in the United States enjoy access to for speeding. an unintentional social ex- of federal agents in Port- he bid me farewell, saying 96 percent of all cancer drugs. Anyone who has per- “Where are you coming periment and led to a variety land, Oregon. Our show of “Dump Trump - I love it! I sonally battled cancer, or knows someone who has, from?” the officer asked. of encounters. For instance, solidarity was swarmed by a wish you could plaster that “New England,” I said. on the highway in Idaho, squadron of local police. By sticker all over town.” understands that quick access to breakthrough drugs “Connecticut.” a man driving a red pickup indiscriminately firing tear Later, as I thought about can make the difference between life or death. “What are you boys do- rolled down his window to gas, flash-bangs and blunt the man in Escanaba, my The Trump administration’s executive order threatens ing way out here?” he asked, flip me off as he passed. impact projectiles, the police mind returned to the be- surprised. Another time, in a Walmart escalated the protest into ginning of summer, when these patients. Our nation is grappling with a deadly Thesitated. As a third-year parking lot in Rapid City, urban warfare. For the first T planned my journey at pandemic and struggling to curb rising rates of law student at the University South Dakota, another man time, I feared I could suffera home, overlooking Long Is- chronic disease -- it’s hard to think of a worse time to of Connecticut, I knew the in a pickup stopped to yell severe injury - or death - due land Sound. I had expected value of discretion, especial- obscenities at me. I had to police aggression. and looked forward to see- reduce Americans’ access to medicines and discour- ly when questioned by law planned on sleeping in my But every action has its ing culturally diverse parts age research. Do we really want to slow cutting-edge enforcement. Jeep that night, but that en- equal and opposite reaction. of America. I knew from my research into COVID-19 therapies? In truth, I was on a cross- counter made me feel vul- As police skirmished with previous westward travels country trek to see and expe- nerable. Yet sleeping in a us, I knew other protest- There are more than 4,500 drugs in development that America is so diverse rience the way the country motel was out to the ques- ers would do whatever they that regions can feel like dif- right now in U.S. labs. Any of those medicines could was responding to police tion: South Dakota wasn’t could to help me, as I would ferent countries. be the cure to cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, brutality protests. At that taking COVID-19 seriously, do for them. By treating moment, we were heading evidenced by the hundreds us as the enemy, the police The differences feel bigger mental illness, and other ailments. But if the United to Standing Rock Nation in of motorcyclists I'd seen now, and it goes deeper than united us. Despite the inten- States enacts price controls, there’s no telling wheth- search of the Camp of Sacred heading to Sturgis. I stayed sity of the situation, the ca- culture. Driving across the Stones, where four years ago in my Jeep, but I kept a can- maraderie was inspiring. country, I encountered dif- er these promising experimental medicines will ever ferent realities. While parts tribal members were blasted ister of pepper spray nearby. I left Washington reluc- reach pharmacy shelves. with water cannons for pro- I imagined waking to a posse tantly days after the protest. of the country battle COV- Peter J. Pitts, a former Food and Drug Administra- testing the Dakota Access of locals ready to teach the After weeks of feeling like ID-19 and the repercussions Pipeline. anti-American a lesson. an outsider on the road, I of systemic racism, other re- tion associate commissioner, is president of the Cen- gions stubbornly insist noth- Back in Minneapolis at I have traveled around felt at home in Washington. ter for Medicine in the Public Interest. the newly renamed George Europe and through eastern It was hard to leave after ing is amiss. Floyd Square, we had seen a China. But I never felt more finding like-minded people. With items such as masks yurt, operating as a first aid like a foreigner than I did I didn’t expect to encoun- identifying which reality station, with a plywood sign passing through the middle ter others once I left. I was you subscribe to, it’s hard reading: “This yurt came of America this summer, It wrong. io feel as though the country from Standing Rock to heal. wasn’t just because of my Twas repacking the Jeep in is united in any meaningful RIP G.F.” It was a reminder conspicuous Jeep, either. Canon Beach, Oregon, when way. of the parallel injustices On our way west, my a woman my age pulled up Perhaps America has al- suffered by indigenous and brother and I stopped at a and asked if she could take ways contained alternative Black people in America. fast food chain in Billings, my parking spot, adding, realities, but the dual crises The trooper didn’t need to Montana. The inside was “T love your stickers, by have torn away the vestiges know all this, however. packed with patrons, but the way. My sister actually of whatever common under- the editor to “We're on our way to Se- other than the staff, we were works for Sen. Ed Markey standing remained. attle,” I told him. the only people wearing on the Green New Deal.” I Tennyson Benedict is a [email protected] The trooper maintained masks. The masks identified was so surprised, I struggled student at the University of a funny look, as though we us as outsiders just as effec- to speak. Connecticut School of Law.