Fire in The Blood

How much do you know about the Pharmaceutical business? Other than the fact that it is by far THE most profitable business in the world? It has a whole lot of Medical Representatives who go door to door in not the most attractive job in the world.  Other than some big names like Glaxo or Pfizer or Cipla.  Not much I am guessing.

Well, if your answer is in the affirmative to “Not Much” – and I was one of you not too long back (read 3 days back) then I am going to urge you to watch Dylan Mohan Gray’s critically acclaimed and apparently soon to be Oscar nominated (I hope so) documentary titled FIRE IN THE BLOOD.

FITB is a documentary about how the world has been deprived of a cure of a generic cure or suppressant for the most dreaded disease from the previous millennium – AIDS. It covers aspects beginning from Africa – where we have the largest affected population – over 30 million people. And those would probably be dated figures.

Most of Africa is impacted under that wonderful concept called the WTO that prevents the import of generic drugs into countries where American Pharmaceutical companies have patents.  So if you are in South Africa then you HAVE to buy Anti Retro Viral (ARV) drugs only from Pfizer @ $15000 per annum.

All of this when organisations like CIPLA were willing to provide the same quality at less than $1 per day. FITB covers the apathy of the not just the pharma companies but the government towards the offer from Dr. Hamied (CIPLA) over 10 years back.  As of now, nothing has been done about that offer. And the costs have gone down to less than $1 for every 3 days of treatment.

Why then are these drugs not made accessible to the common man or for that matter those who are so economically backward that they cannot afford even basic medication – leave along those like ARVs? Simple matter of economics.  And another potent word – GREED.

Dylan Mohan Grey walks you through the mathematics of the entire deal.  Who it benefits and who it doesn’t.  And of course, why there may not be any change at all after all of this.  So you see knowing the right thing to do and still doing the wrong thing is not just restricted to this part of the world.  Regretably, we do it all the time for no monetary benefit either.

Watch FITB because it is an eye-opener.  Exactly what a documentary should be.  It tries earnestly to dig really deep into causes of a particular issue at hand.  It tries to present both sides of the story – much as we may not like the other side.  It leaves you enriched and more aware at the end of 90 minutes.  7 on 10.  Do watch it over the weekend.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/user/vi2937432345/?ref_=tt_ov_vi