NFB Collection
Drug Deals: The Brave New World of Prescription Drugs
200150 minFilm: Documentary
Direction: Erna BuffieElise Swerhone
Production: Merit Jensen-Carr (Merit Motion Pictures Inc.)Joe MacDonald (National Film Board of Canada)Graydon McCreaMichael Allder
Script: Erna Buffie
Produced by Merit Motion Pictures in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada in association with CBC The Nature of Things and with the participation of Manitoba Film & Sound, the Independent Production Fund - Videon Program; the Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian cable industry Telefilm Canada: Equity Investment Program; the Government of Manitoba - Manitoba Film & Video Production Tax Credit and the Government of Canada Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit Program.
Vanessa Young was 15 years old when she died suddenly from cardiac failure. Four days later, a prescription drug that she was taking was removed from the market. Did the drug have a potentially fatal side effect? If so, why was it being sold?
While the prescription drug industry strives to develop life-saving medicines, it is also a lucrative business with billions of dollars of revenue at stake. This gripping documentary asks whether corporate pressure is causing new drugs to be released before they are adequately tested. Probing each phase of clinical research, approvals, safety monitoring and marketing, Drug Deals investigates the potentially far-reaching influence of drug companies. The film features interviews with researchers, doctors, government regulators and a grieving family.
Subject categories
- Health and Medicine > BioethicsDrugs (Medicinal Use)Research
- Industry and Commerce > Pharmaceutical industries
Credits
- director
- Erna Buffie
- Elise Swerhone
- writer
- Erna Buffie
- producer
- Merit Jensen-Carr
- co-producer
- Joe MacDonald
- executive producer
- Graydon McCrea
- Michael Allder
- cinematography
- Jim Aquila
- Charles Konowal
- Ali Kazimi
- editor
- David McGunigal
- narrator
- Ann-Marie MacDonald
- music composer
- Victor Davies
- production manager
- Sandra Moore
- sound recordist
- Ross Redfern
- Jim Gilchrist
- John Martin
- Mark Obradovich
- gaffer
- Peter Wiltshire
- Claude Savard
- Len Peterson
- Nate Clapp
- Doug Wallick
- Tim Bewcyk
- stills photographer
- Vincenzo Pietropaolo
- art direction
- Sherri Starkell
- hair
- Jennifer Machnee
- Dianne Nimik
- makeup
- Jennifer Machnee
- Dianne Nimik
- transcripts
- Melanie Coad
- Monique Perron
- production accountant
- Gail Brown
- production assistant
- Sarah Armstrong
- Ari Flaisher
- Milana Bodiroga
- John Prentice
- Dan Aquila
- Madeline Carr
- casting
- Rebecca Gibson
- location manager
- Arlene Moskovitch
- Victor Dobchuk
- Carol Flaisher
- visual research
- Louise Moyes
- Julie Hackett Strachan
- Laurie Blanchard
- Lynne Herzeg
- Gwynne Basen
- Joe Friesen
- archival research
- Louise Moyes
- Julie Hackett Strachan
- Laurie Blanchard
- Lynne Herzeg
- Gwynne Basen
- Joe Friesen
- titles
- Adam Richner
- graphics
- Adam Richner
- music performer
- Victor Davies
- Yuri Hooker
- music recording
- John Schritt
- sound mixer
- Bruce Little
- online editor
- Tony Wytinck
- assistant picture editor
- Julie Hackett Strachan
- sound design
- Saul Henteleff
- post-production
- Midcanada Productions Services
- program administrator
- Cyndi Forcand
- production supervisor
- Scott Collins
Awards
- BLIZZARD Award - for Best DocumentaryThe BLIZZARDS/Manitoba Motion Picture Ind. Ass. Film & Video Awards
- ffffAdvertising Film Festival