Based on a true story, this medico-legal thriller explores the sinister role of group purchasing organizations in the health care industry. Profits are placed over patient well-being and innovation is suppressed, while  politicians duck responsibility because they depend on financial donations from the large corporations.  The anti-trust violations of the group purchasing organizations and the pharmaceutical industry stifle the advent of new technology and contribute to the global shortage of generic drugs.

In real life, the syringe manufacturer filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the corporations. Michael David Weiss died in 1999 at age 32 under mysterious circumstances that were officially labeled as an overdose. His partner Danziger was involved as a producer in the making of this film. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for $150 million—and the safety syringe was never released. 

Talking points involved the occupational hazards of needle-stick injuries and drug addiction for professionals. Another is the role of syringe re-use in causing the burgeoning AIDS epidemic in Africa.

The conclusion is realistically pessimistic.

For more on drug shortages, go to www.canadadrugshortage.com

For more on the anti-trust behavior of GPOs, see

Prakash Sethi, Group Purchasing Organizations: An Undisclosed Scandal in the U.S. Healthcare Industry. Palgrave/Macmillan, 2009

Or

Or

Diana L. Moss, Healthcare Intermediaries: Competition and Healthcare Policy at Loggerheads? American Antitrust Institute, White Paper, 7 May 2012.