Firstly, Matthew McConaughey won a Golden Globe.

Worse than that:

The film suggests that AZT was poison and/or toxic. The hero of the tale, Woodroff, goes off traipsing to Mexico to get non-FDA approved drugs such as Compound Q and Peptide T.

The film doesn’t mention that Compound Q really was dangerous, which is why it never got approval, and Peptide T basically useless.

Straight AZT had side effects but it saved a lot of lives. Later, more effective treatments (cocktails of drugs INCLUDING AZT) were developed but AZT kept hundreds of thousands of people alive in the interim.

No doubt this exciting tale of one man who bucked the system against the evil FDA appeals to a lot of people, but the FDA got it right, and Woodroff got it wrong: probably cost people their lives.

Plus, Matthew McfuckenConaughey got a Golden Globe.

what’s AZT?

party_pants said:

what’s AZT?

The main drug to treat HIV/AIDS

Zidovudine, an early anti-retroviral drug (HIV being a retrovirus).

dv said:

Firstly, Matthew McConaughey won a Golden Globe.

Worse than that:

The film suggests that AZT was poison and/or toxic. The hero of the tale, Woodroff, goes off traipsing to Mexico to get non-FDA approved drugs such as Compound Q and Peptide T.

The film doesn’t mention that Compound Q really was dangerous, which is why it never got approval, and Peptide T basically useless.

Straight AZT had side effects but it saved a lot of lives. Later, more effective treatments (cocktails of drugs INCLUDING AZT) were developed but AZT kept hundreds of thousands of people alive in the interim.

No doubt this exciting tale of one man who bucked the system against the evil FDA appeals to a lot of people, but the FDA got it right, and Woodroff got it wrong: probably cost people their lives.

Plus, Matthew McfuckenConaughey got a Golden Globe.

I wouldn’t worry too much about what other people think is popular.

The guidelines seem to indicate it’s not used much these days as there are other, better, alternatives. But, I’ve had naff all to do with HIV treatment.

wookiemeisterin has always been approved for use on mainland australia

Arts said:

dv said:

Firstly, Matthew McConaughey won a Golden Globe.

Worse than that:

The film suggests that AZT was poison and/or toxic. The hero of the tale, Woodroff, goes off traipsing to Mexico to get non-FDA approved drugs such as Compound Q and Peptide T.

The film doesn’t mention that Compound Q really was dangerous, which is why it never got approval, and Peptide T basically useless.

Straight AZT had side effects but it saved a lot of lives. Later, more effective treatments (cocktails of drugs INCLUDING AZT) were developed but AZT kept hundreds of thousands of people alive in the interim.

No doubt this exciting tale of one man who bucked the system against the evil FDA appeals to a lot of people, but the FDA got it right, and Woodroff got it wrong: probably cost people their lives.

Plus, Matthew McfuckenConaughey got a Golden Globe.

I wouldn’t worry too much about what other people think is popular.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it either. Or indeed at all.

I’d worry that a movie might give people wrong, potentially harmful, ideas about the balance of the value of the FDA’s advice versus wild freelancing mavericks with a devil-may-care attitude and some contacts in Latin America who can get you some alternative medicines…