Page 36 - Big Pharma and the Constant Gardener

the people of rural Kenya, who are being treated inhumanely by

a British pharmaceutical company. At issue in the storyline is a

drug called “Dypraxa,” being used experimentally with the people
of Kenya. In the film, the pharmaceutical company goes to great

lengths to cover up the number of deaths caused by this drug.

The sinister message of the film – The Constant
Gardener

A quick Google search today tells me that I was not the first

to wonder if the name, Dypraxa, was inspired by Zyprexa, on the

market since 1996 and used off-label with my father. The
similarities seemed profound: the treatment of my own vulnerable

father whose early 2005 death I was grieving – and the treatment

of the poor, sick, and vulnerable people of rural Kenya.

Treated with inhumanity by a powerful
corporation

For days, I was processing the impact of this film. I was stunned.

Why did I feel suddenly enlightened, confused – and wanting to

deny the film’s message and its impact? Was it really saying what

I thought?!

Did the pharmaceutical company which produced Zyprexa know