Movie on Chinese patients buying drugs from India triggers major buzz

BEIJING: LU YONG’S STORY BROUGHT FOCUS ON EXPENSIVE CANCER MEDICINES IN CHINA WHILE THE SAME DRUGS ARE FAR CHEAPER IN INDIA

A new Chinese movie based on the real-life story of a man who bought affordable but unapproved cancer medicines from India for himself and a thousand other patients is creating a sharp pre-release buzz.

Dying to Survive, which has China’s A-list actor’s Xu Zheng acts as the lead, was shot partly in Mumbai and got rave reviews at the recently held Shanghai Film Festival. It is also getting the thumbs-up from critics, who saw it at preview screenings earlier this week.

“Xu will play a drug dealer in the feature, which is loosely based on the true story of a Chinese leukaemia patient who smuggled unapproved drugs from India to get affordably-priced medicine for himself and 1,000 others,” state-controlled China Daily reported.

In real life, Lu Yong borrowed the idea from the Oscar-winning film Dallas Buyers Club, which tells the true story of Ron Woodroof. Matthew McConaughey played Woodroof, an AIDS patient who smuggled unapproved drugs into Texas for treating his symptoms and distributed them to others who had the same disease.

Lu’s actions were, however, illegal as medicines unapproved by Chinese authorities are regarded as illegal here. Zhang Qingsong, Lu’s attorney had then said that his client was not selling drugs to make profits.

Dying to Survive follows Lu’s story but the protagonist in the film isn’t shown to be suffering from cancer.