A silent and sneaky pathology, diabetes breaks out without warning. To function, the body needs sugar in the blood. The pancreas, an essential organ, secretes a hormone, insulin, which allows it to be regulated. When it doesn’t work, type 1 diabetes kicks in. An injection of synthetic insulin is then necessary to regulate the sugar level and avoid a fatal outcome. Type 2 diabetes is linked to our way of life, “a disease of civilization”, according to Dr. Stephan Martin. We eat too much fat, too much sugar, we don’t do enough physical exercise. Some 400 million people worldwide are affected by this disease, 90% of them suffer from type 2.
A health disaster
Doctors, researchers, laboratory managers testify in this documentary. Just like the musician Bertrand Burgalat, type 1 diabetic since 1975, who created the association Diabète et Méchant and denounces the lobby of the laboratories. Because diabetes is expensive: 60 billion dollars worldwide. However, in 1921, the two Canadian researchers who discovered insulin sold the patent to the American laboratory Lilly for a symbolic dollar each, so that it could be mass produced. “They gave the patent to save human lives, but this brilliant invention, insulin, was completely misguided,” protests Burgalat. The film also denounces the lies of the pharmaceutical industry, guilty of illicit agreement on the exorbitant costs of treatments. At 99%, the antidiabetic market is in the hands of Sanofi, Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which achieve huge margins.
And despite the denials of the labs, the manufacturing costs do not justify the prices. In the United States, many patients are even forced to ration themselves. “The business model of the industry is greed. Their policy kills people who can’t afford their insulin. We need a reform of the sector, protests Senator Bernie Sanders. If we want to overcome this health disaster, our environment and our consumption must be modified. That’s the message of this illuminating documentary about a killer disease that’s fattening the industry.
Wednesday, December 28 at 8:30 p.m. on LCP. Swiss documentary by Dorothée Frénot and Benoît Rossel (2020). 1h25. (Available in replay on the site of LCP).
