Readers write

Patients need access to new cancer treatments

As a community oncologist practicing in rural Georgia, I witness firsthand the devastating impact of pancreatic cancer on patients and their families. It remains one of the deadliest cancers, often diagnosed at an advanced stage and associated with poor survival rates.

That is why recent data showing a novel targeted therapy significantly improving survival in metastatic pancreatic cancer are so encouraging. For patients facing a disease with historically limited treatment options, advances like these represent hope.

These breakthroughs are the result of years of scientific research, rigorous clinical trials and substantial investment. The United States has led the world in developing lifesaving therapies because it fosters an environment that rewards medical innovation.

At the same time, innovation alone is not enough. Many of my patients face barriers related to cost, insurance coverage, transportation and access to specialty care. A breakthrough treatment can only change lives if patients can obtain it.

Policymakers should pursue a balanced approach that protects medical innovation while improving patient access and affordability. Policies that inadvertently reduce investment in research and development risk slowing future breakthroughs.

Patients deserve both continued innovation and meaningful access to the therapies that innovation produces.

HARSHA VYAS, MD, DUBLIN

CANCER CENTER OF MIDDLE GEORGIA

Qatari 747 belongs to the people, not Trump

Article 1 of the Constitution of the United States says, in plain English, “… no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”