Medical innovation promises a better tomorrow for Alaskans

Our nation and Alaska have learned valuable lessons over the last year. As a medical provider for two decades, with much of that time spent in military combat medical roles, I thought I had seen it all, and treated most of it. Like so many Alaskans, I was wrong. The pandemic we faced was unprecedented and has touched lives in ways unimaginable to many.

At the time of this writing, I am preparing to turn the lights on in a vaccination clinic that has been providing COVID-19 vaccines to Alaskans for two months. I administered our practice’s first COVID-19 test swab on March 4, 2020, in Eagle River. Less than a year later, I was giving vaccines for this disease. Regardless of any individual position on the disease or the vaccine created to fight it, the speed at which we went from identification of the virus to receiving an approved vaccine from not one company but three was unprecedented. Similar to most professions, the right tools for the job make the work much easier, and in medicine, that equates to better patient outcomes. Our organization received the right tool for the job in record time. It raises the question: How?

Alaska’s unemployment rate is close to its pre-pandemic level. And with vaccinations picking up just in time for our busiest tourist season, the state has a chance to make a massive recovery. Our state’s hope for a summer boom stems from the triumphs of America’s pharmaceutical industry — namely, the COVID-19 vaccines it developed in record time.

These vaccines are promising to revitalize our state’s economy — but that’s not all. The innovative technology behind them is incredibly promising for the future of medicine. Scientists are already planning to build off it to develop cures and treatments for a host of other diseases, which may be available in the near future. But our nation’s pharmaceutical industry can only continue its vital work if lawmakers allow research, risk-taking and innovative thought to flourish.

Our own Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan must take action to thwart any policies that would squash those very elements. The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed havoc on Alaska’s economy. In April 2020, our unemployment rate hit double digits for the first time in a decade. The tourism industry — our state’s second-largest employer — was paralyzed by lockdowns and travel restrictions. As of January 2021, Alaska’s leisure and hospitality industry had 7,800 fewer jobs than the prior year — meaning a full quarter of the industry’s jobs were wiped out.

Thankfully, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson were hard at work to turn our grim circumstances around. These biopharmaceutical companies developed COVID-19 vaccines in under a year — which has been unheard of until now.

Vaccines typically take between 10 and 15 years to move from the design stage to patient arms. Even the fastest on record still took a full four years. Their breakthrough COVID-19 vaccines promise to protect the health of our economy and our people.

The United States has now administered close to 150 million vaccine doses — and Alaska is leading the way. More than one-third of Alaskans are fully vaccinated, and more than 40% are partially vaccinated. Meanwhile, safe travel appears on the horizon as more people in Alaska and across the country get inoculated — just what Alaska’s essential tourism industry needs to be restored. It’s unlikely that the industry would have made it through another quarantined summer.

Still, we have only scratched the surface on the potential benefits brought to Alaskans by the development of these vaccines. Researchers are conceiving methods to use mRNA technology — the breakthrough technique behind vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech — to fight cancer and heart disease, the two leading causes of death in our state. Scientists are optimistic it can help combat not only cancer and heart disease but Alzheimer’s, cystic fibrosis, and the flu as well. With a flourishing pharmaceutical sector, that could happen sooner rather than later.

It’s astounding, then, that some lawmakers in Washington are threatening to implement policies that would stifle the medical innovation we desperately need. One proposal gaining traction is the Lower Drug Costs Now Act, or H.R. 3, which was introduced by House Democrats just days ago. H.R. 3 would essentially force government price controls onto common U.S. medicines. Though this may sound like an appealing quick-fix, it would prove disastrous for patients.

It takes around $3 billion for pharmaceutical companies to develop a new drug, while less than 12% make it through the rigorous clinical trial process. If the government imposes artificial price caps, companies wouldn’t have the capability to invest in new research — it would simply be too risky. Those in the most desperate need would be hit the hardest.

Alaskans are resilient. We will come out of this pandemic stronger than ever. But our representatives would do well to remember what is making our recovery possible — and what a healthier future could bring for all in The Last Frontier.

Dennis Spencer is the CEO of Medical Network of Alaska and Capstone Clinic. He is also a founding member and CEO of COVIDSecure, a software platform used nationally for documenting COVID-19 care. He has been a health care provider for more than 20 years and is a retired decorated military veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom.

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