Why China’s premier used hit movie ‘Dying to Survive’ to push for cheaper cancer drugs
Li Keqiang has been trying to speed up price cuts for life-saving medication for months, and it’s a boon that the box-office hit has generated widespread awareness
When China’s premier has to turn to a box-office hit to gather new steam for a government campaign to tame cancer drug prices, it’s clear he is facing an uphill battle.
Billed as the Chinese answer to Dallas Buyers Club, the tear-jerking film Dying to Survive last week became Premier Li Keqiang’s new rallying cry for speeding up price cuts for cancer medications. It is an issue of such complexity that he has held two cabinet meetings about it in the past three months.
Based on the real-life exploits of a leukaemia patient who smuggled cheaper generic drugs from India to save himself and others, the dark comedy has struck a chord with viewers in China, where many life-saving cancer medications are too expensive for ordinary families to afford.
The country sees 4.29 million new cancer cases each year and sees 2.81 million deaths. The five-year cancer survival rate in China is just over 30 per cent – less than half that of the United States, according to a 2014 study published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Although 95 per cent of the population are covered by some form of public medical insurance, the coverage focuses mainly on basic medical care and excludes many life-saving cancer drugs or treatments.