Dallas Buyers Club Essay

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Recommended: How Aids Affected American Society

Dallas Buyers Club directed by Jean-Marc Vallee begins with Ron Woodroof, an electrician and a rodeo cowboy in Texas in mid 1980s, being diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live. After a few days of denial, Woodroof heard about AZT, a drug being under clinical trial for proving its effectiveness on AIDS treatment, and took it for several days only to find himself in a worse condition. While I was watching the film, I wondered why it took so much time for Woodroof to accept his diagnosis of AIDS despite his constant drug abuse via injection. I later found out that in 1980s, there was a lack of knowledge in cause and transmission of the disease. Therefore, during that time, there were many drug dependent people who administered drugs through intravenous injection in AIDS patient population. Furthermore, the film sheds light on the development of drug policies in US and moral dilemma in pharmaceutical industry.
His search for a new drug led Woodroof to Mexico and there he found ddC and peptide T, which were not approved by FDA and thus illegal to use in US. When the drugs turned out to work for his symptoms, he started Dallas Buyers Club to distribute these smuggled and FDA-unapproved drugs to other HIV-positive patients in US. When the club flourished, FDA and the state government interdicted and rejected Woodroof’s request to review various …show more content…

Furthermore, their regulatory measure can quickly eliminate ineffective drugs from the market. Also, it can promote price competition between pharmaceutical companies by providing information on benefits and side-effects of drugs to patients. Moreover, as we covered in class, complementary measure was introduced such as fast track designation which expedites development and review of drugs that address unmet medical need in the treatment of serious or life-threatening

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