Fire in the Blood

"In the end it is that which really spoke to me about this story: that from something unspeakably dark and inhuman a spark could be struck, that even one or two small, unknown, unconnected individuals could take on the most massive, powerful and unyielding of adversaries, and actually manage to change the world." - Dylan Mohan Gray

Filmed across 4 continents, this documentary - meant to be a conversation-starter - "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." Fire in the Blood describes the strategies of the coalition that came together to fight for access to life-saving medicine. It features contributions from former United States (US) President Bill Clinton, intellectual property activist James Love (non-governmental organisation (NGO) director), global health reporter Donald McNeil, Jr. of The New York Times, HIV/AIDS treatment activist Zackie Achmat, generic drugmaker Yusuf Hamied, former Pfizer executive-turned-whistleblower Peter Rost (doctor), African AIDS physician and chronicler of this "Genocide by Denial", Peter Mugyenyi, and Nobel Prize-laureates Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz.

An excerpt from a Q&A session with Fire in the Blood Director Dylan Mohan Gray, who was asked "What kind of policy change would you like to see come out of this film?", follows:

• "Patent-holders should not be allowed to have monopolies on essential medicines...
• Publicly-funded research should be freely accessible and serve the public good
• There should be a mechanism for challenge the validity of patents on medicine before they are granted...
• The US and other Western governments must make an explicit commitment not to exert economic pressure on, or threaten sanctions against, developing countries for exercising their international rights to make essential medicine available to their citizens
• Any pharmaceutical company applying for a patent must publicly disclose associated research costs
• Doctors and pharmacists should be required to disclose any remuneration or non-monetary incentives they receive from pharmaceutical companies in a publicly-accessible database
• Pharmaceutical companies and researchers should be legally required to disclose all research results, and there should be significant criminal penalties for not doing so..."