It seems that April is the time I am destined to visit India… The beginning of Summer, a time of heat, of sweat and dust.
My first visit to India was to Chennai in April 2015 to buy generic Sofosbuvir and defeat the Hepatitis C virus that was rapidly devouring my liver.
The second trip was to Mumbai in April 2017 to participate in the filming of a US documentary about the predatory pricing of the big pharmaceutical companies. The documentary people had decided to use Gilead’s pricing of Hep C meds as the perfect example. Apart from being in the doco it was also a chance to meet in the flesh those people with whom I had been working with supplying Indian generic treatments to people around the world. Over the preceding two years we had developed strong friendships via the internet.
The third trip, this trip, is April 2018 and once more to Mumbai, this time to take part in another documentary in which I am the narrator, telling the terrible story of the nearly one million people who die every year from Hepatitis C simply because Big Pharma makes the cost of the cure so high that most people with Hepatitis C cannot afford treatment.
Part of this documentary deals with the extreme measures that Big Pharma uses to try to block access to generic Hepatitis C treatment, a subject that gives me a chance, now, to reflect on the year just passed.
Since April 2015 when India released generic Sovaldi Big Pharma has been working behind the scenes to restrict access to generic Hep C treatment and also to suppress information about the effectiveness of generic Hepatitis C treatment.
To read more about Greg’s trip to India, the destruction of his website, being hacked, and other misadventures, click here.
