Fire in the Blood

The documentary The Fire in the Blood aims to show that the deaths of millions who could have been saved should elicit from us more than simply a shrug or an outraged reaction which soon blows over. It is a call to arms in favour of changing a system which supports the economic prosperity of the upper classes at the expense of the lives of the people who lack the resources. In a contemporary version of David’s fight against Goliath, a group of activists confront western pharmaceutical companies. The activists show their devotion to the fight for the basic right of the people of the third world to have access to medicine, while the pharmaceutical companies persistently advance their own financial interests and profit at any cost. The filmmakers focus on the case of ARV drugs, which radically improve the quality of life of people infected with HIV. The problem is not only that the pharmaceutical giants refuse to sell the medicine to developing countries for less than 15 thousand dollars per year, which is the price for western patients, but they also withhold support for generic drugs. The priority is the patent, not the patient. The war to overturn this priority is not over yet. (Academia Film Olomouc)