Saturday, January 22, 2022

Big Pharma corruption in Africa - more relevant than ever

 

 

Dennis Riches writes about this important film: 

The Constant Gardener (2005) covered corruption in drug trials carried out in Africa. 

The film was based on John Le Carré’s novel, which was inspired by the true-life tale of Pfizer’s trial of its new drug trovafloxacin in Kano, Nigeria, during an epidemic of meningococcal meningitis. 

John le Carré, in the first edition of the 2001 novel on which the film is based, provided both a dedication and a personal afterword. The dedication and part of the afterword are reproduced in the closing credits of the film. 

The dedication states: "This film is dedicated to Yvette Pierpaoli and all other aid workers who lived and died giving a damn. Nobody in this story, and no outfit or corporation, thank God, is based upon an actual person or outfit in the real world. But I can tell you this. As my journey through the pharmaceutical jungle progressed, I came to realize that, by comparison with the reality, my story was as tame as a holiday postcard." 

The text appears over John le Carré's name.

You can pay $4 to watch is film here

It's an important and riveting film.

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