I haven’t learned about Lu Yong’s story yet. As a personal experience of a family member suffering from lung cancer who has purchased generic drugs from India, I will briefly write:
1. Similarities and differences with Dallas Buyers Club:
They are all about generic drugs, but the motives for imitation are different. "Dallas" is a generic drug because it takes several years for a drug to go through the official list of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and it needs to go through various complicated procedures, various experiments and administrative approval procedures. Patients on the edge can't wait, so there are generic drugs.
"I'm Not the God of Medicine" is a generic drug because the price of the drug is too high, and ordinary patients can't afford it. As for why the price of medicine is so high, the movie points the finger at foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers, which is a more harmonious means. But in fact, this issue is more complicated, and it is covered in the end credits, including China's pharmaceutical regulations, drug import taxes, and so on.
2. Have the issues reflected in the film been addressed?
Far from it.
The movie only talks about Gleevec, a drug used in leukemia. At the end of the movie, the problem of this drug seems to be solved and covered by medical insurance.
However, there are various other cancers. The targeted drugs corresponding to these cancers have not received the same treatment as Gleevec and still face the problem of high prices. There is still a large number of patients who need to purchase from India.
3. What are the inconsistencies of the film with the logic of reality?
Agent "smuggling"
4. Definition of "counterfeit medicine"
According to Chinese laws, medicines that have not been approved in my country are all counterfeit medicines. Therefore, the Indian generic medicines sold by Xu Zheng in the movie are also called "fake medicines" despite their curative effects.
At the beginning, the "Swiss Nano Gleevec" sold by Zhang Changlin, played by Wang Yanhui, was a real fake medicine that made people sick.
Some time ago, a GQ article titled "The Red and Black of Lu Yong, the First Person to Buy Generic Drugs in India", discussed this issue in more depth. The reporter found that a generic drug that Lu Yong later purchased on his behalf was actually in India. It also belongs to the "three no products". The focus has shifted from the discussion on the decriminalization of purchasing generic drugs to whether there are "counterfeit products" in Indian generic drugs?
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