by Omar Hamada
As a physician, my top priority has been and will always be achieving the best outcomes for my patients. Many existing medicines and treatments are tried and true. Likewise, scientific research and development as well as innovative new technologies should not be overlooked or even rejected outright. After all, we know many advancements in medicine today were at one time revolutionary ideas.
Life-changing medical breakthroughs give patients and their families more options for treatment, hope, and survival. This is especially true for those among us fighting the most lethal and rarest diseases. Tennessee is a powerhouse in that regard, with world-class institutions throughout our state researching and developing the next generation of medicines that are giving real hope to those facing long odds for disease reversal, return to health, and even basic survival.
We didn’t get here by accident. It was hard-earned, thanks to the dedication and hard work of our scientists, researchers, physicians, and even lawmakers who embraced healthcare innovation, Tennessee’s entrepreneurial spirit, and the economic engines that enabled this virtuous cycle of continuous reinvestment and discovery.
Unfortunately, in the most recent legislative session, some of our lawmakers launched an all-out assault against our local scientific industry.
Post COVID, there is a great deal of understandable confusion and justifiable concern surrounding mRNA technologies. The only exposure most had to this decades-old technology was a rushed to market, somewhat harmful “vaccine” that fractured the public trust in our scientific foundations.
However, to propose banning all mRNA-based research and treatments out-of-hand is not only uninformed, it is unwise as these technologies have real potential to treat devastating cancers like advanced melanoma as well as many other rare diseases – many of which have not yet even been studied. Here in Tennessee, a few of our legislators threaten our access to these future life-changing medicines. On the economic side, if these detrimental policies were enacted, we would see the loss of many jobs and economic opportunities that took years to build. In fact, those proposed policies would do great harm to the excellent scientific reputation Tennessee has built over decades.
As a physician, these attempted bans seriously affect my ability to give my patients access to every option available. Even more importantly, these bans would remove our ability as patients to expand individual medical freedom as our government takes more and more control over our choices of how we manage our own health.
I pray these misguided anti-mRNA technology bills, and others like them, are extinguished in the next legislative session. But if they are not, our lawmakers must soundly reject these efforts and instead choose their constituents and our patients who are literally running out of time. Ultimately, physicians and patients should have full access to all medical treatment modalities and cutting-edged technologies as they together decide what is the best course of action for each individual.
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Omar Hamada, MD, MBA is a physician and founder of Tri-Apogee Health and Human Performance.
