Fire in the Blood

An intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice", FIRE IN THE BLOOD tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of the global south in the years after 1996 - causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths - and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back. Shot on four continents and including contributions from global figures such as Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz, FIRE IN THE BLOOD is the never-before-told true story of the remarkable coalition which came together to stop 'the crime of the century' and save millions of lives in the process.

In the mid-90s ARV (Antiretroviral) drugs first came available, they enable the treatment of AIDS and HIV, and people taking them can live a fairly normal life once they start on them. In the west, however, these drugs were being sold at around $15,000 / year, which is obviously out of the reach of the poor, and totally beyond the ability of most people in poorer countries to afford.

The drugs themselves could be produced as generics in India at around $500 / year, and later for much less, but the pharmaceutical companies, fearing the thin edge of the wedge, decided to fight against it, and insisted on their patent rights, even though 100,000s of people were dying.

This film is about some of the activists who fought back, and the victories they had in eventually getting these drugs at a reasonable cost for their peoples. There are many heroes in this story, but they most certainly are not the leaders of Big Pharma and the governments who supported them.