CLINICAL TRIALS
THE NEW PROTOCOL
What have we got?
Up!
Speak up!
I'm listening.
What?
You're the father?
Follow me.
Should I...
ask a nurse for something
to help you through?
No. Thanks.
It was your car?
Stop it.
Calm down.
- Will you be OK?
- Yes thanks.
No, young lady.
This isn't Frank.
He can't...
He had an accident.
He passed away. OK?
Something wrong?
- Where are we at?
- One more shift will do it.
Good.
- Do we cut a trail for tomorrow?
- Yes, good.
What the fuck are you at?
Give me that.
Get lost!
I'll examine the car but...
a novice driver
on that road in winter...
What can I say?
Mr Kraft?
Diane Delteil.
It was me on your son's phone.
It's a bad time to trouble you.
They said you'd be here.
I didn't know... I'm sorry.
Please accept my condolences.
I didn't know him well.
We spoke a few times but never met.
I came from Paris specially to see you.
Shall I come back at a better time?
Let me give you a number.
They'll take a message.
You're a journalist.
Not exactly.
I'm on an investigation.
You knew he was testing a new drug?
Did you notice any side effects?
Insomnia? Fuzzy vision?
Loss of appetite?
He could have dozed off.
It's a common side effect.
The drug could have caused his death.
Shame on you, exploiting people's grief!
Listen!
The producer is withdrawing the drug.
All I want is a sample of it,
before they grab it back!
They stop at nothing.
You don't know them!
Ask for an autopsy! You'll see!
CLINICAL TRIAL
Getting by.
Tell me...
Is the insurance assessor
still with you?
I know but he's wrong.
Frank... wasn't a novice driver.
He knew the road by heart.
No...
It has to be the car.
Would you do me a favor
and check it out?
I trust you. That's the difference.
Thanks.
Anybody there?
The manager, please.
You have an appointment?
I only want ten minutes.
Tell him it's Frank Kraft's father...
I'll tell his assistant.
Have a seat.
Professor Pleynel will see you now.
Just for ten minutes, mind.
Were you offered coffee?
If you're in pain, why wait?
Can I leave you with my assistant?
Goodbye.
Frank's father?
How can I help you?
- My son is testing a drug for you.
- Correct.
I heard you're withdrawing it.
Who told you that?
It's irrelevant.
You were misinformed.
We're very pleased with it.
After one more set of trials,
we'll apply to market it.
- Coffee?
- No thanks.
It's like this.
Every drug assaults the body.
We have to test its strength,
measure its impact on the organism.
The only way to do it is by
clinical trials on a test group.
Whatever the drug,
your son is lucky to be testing it.
We have more volunteers
than we can cater for.
How's it going, Remy?
Good. Last two days!
He's under observation.
Why my son?
His migraines are a 'pure syndrome'.
I understand they started
just after your divorce.
There's a psychosomatic element,
you'll agree.
Come on in.
Don't be afraid of these trials.
We always run toxicity tests first.
There's no risk whatsoever,
except of being cured, of course.
My son is dead.
My deepest sympathies.
May I ask how?
A car crash.
He might have dozed off.
I'm really, truly sorry
but any issue of side effects
is out.
How can you be sure?
If drowsiness had ever been reported,
I would know it.
Your son's death
is unconnected to the treatment.
I'll find out what happened.
I hope you're not involved.
Prior to her speech
at the Global Summit
in Davos...
Sir, do you have an invitation?
- No, I don't.
...Louise Verneuil.
I'm looking for somebody.
You have a press card?
I can't let you in.
I'll come back later.
Who'll ask the first question? Madam?
How were the clinical trials
of Paralgic conducted?
In accordance with
French and European law.
What of the rumored unofficial tests
by Hexalor in sub-Saharan Africa?
Fanciful gossip on the Internet
feeds all kinds of conspiracy theories.
The rumors you mention are unfounded.
But Hexalor's trials in Africa
have killed 800 children.
Which 'paper' do you work for?
Your subcontractors
visit areas torn by civil war
and exploit vulnerable communities
by pretending to vaccinate them
while pumping experimental drugs
into their children!
Young lady, I respect
your sincerity if you'll respect mine.
Our ethical policy is totally against...
Here!
Each bracelet is a dead child
killed by you!
You're more honest than
whoever gave you
these knickknacks.
Murderer! Vaccinate them properly
instead of strutting in Davos!
If you believe your nonsense,
publish it and we'll sue.
Meanwhile most of the world
has no basic medicines!
Go easy on her.
At the time of the Black Death,
would they have sold
the cure? No!
They'd have given it away,
to curb the epidemic!
Today they sell cures
like detergent and cars!
Medieval people
were more civilized than us!
Sorry about that.
I think she needs a mild sedative.
Give me my ID!
- It's for the police.
- That's illegal!
Tell them that!
Assholes!
Hi.
I called that number you gave me.
They're not supposed to say where I am.
Still, can I talk to you?
Got a car?
Too bad you went to Nextys.
Pleynel's a sleazebag.
He'd fake anything
for a bunch of stock options.
Now they know you smell a rat.
Who are 'they'?
Hexalor, Glaxo, Pfizer...
Big Pharma.
Don't believe me?
Why the fuck are you here, then?
My house was broken into.
They rifled my medicine chest
but stole nothing.
We're being followed.
We're being followed.
Turn! Go right.
They're still there.
It's just a car.
It's not. It's following us!
You mean the labs send cars?
It's a network.
They send cars...
Phonetaps, stalkers...
What do I do?
Keep turning.
- They've gone.
- Obviously.
They won't follow...
It's a can of worms.
They're there!
Go! Go!
I can't. It's red.
All the more reason! Hit it!
What are you doing?
- Have you gone crazy?
- Get in!
- The car's gone.
- We have to beat the others.
OK, now we stop!
Leave this to me!
I'm not even sure
they were following us.
I didn't make that up.
Don't underestimate them.
Where'd you get this?
I needed those pills.
Look at it my way.
Listen!
You're a thieving maniac!
You aren't the only one bereaved!
They killed my husband!
I've fought them by myself
and lost everything!
My friends, family, job.
Everything!
I overstepped the mark
but you have a chance
to nail them finally!
Don't make me give up.
Ms Delteil!
It's them! Let me in!
They're after me!
Please let me in!
Please!
Let me in!
Quick!
What are you doing?
Who were they?
You tell me.
- What really killed your husband?
- A prescription,
a painkiller made by Hexalor.
One week later, heart attack.
Not just him.
It killed about 20 people
before they withdrew it.
Officially it was
a statistical accident.
Whatever they call it, Vincent is dead.
- Why didn't you sue?
- I did.
There may be a trial some day.
Me and my debts
against their ace lawyers.
How can I lose?
My husband died of a legal drug
with marketing approval.
Your son gave his consent
to a new protocol.
He was trying out a new molecule
that they withdrew
after testing it on him.
They don't use human
guinea pigs these days.
Oh yeah?
In Tuskegee, Alabama,
the Health Service
experimented with syphilis.
They left black men untreated
and watched them grow sick.
Clinton was forced
to apologize in 1997,
When the media woke up in the '90s,
the labs moved their tests
to the Third World.
They produce vaccines.
A fig leaf!
One percent of their business.
What they produce is sickness.
Twice their R&D budget
goes on marketing.
Why?
They'd rather prove you're sick
than cure you.
This isn't your local pharmacist.
It's capitalism's biggest business.
Malaria and TB kill the poor.
Let them die.
Push pills to the rich.
Same again.
Should you?
It helps me!
You're sick. We all are!
Sick people spend!
Look around you.
Sleep disorder? Take Stilnox.
Creeping baldness? Propecia.
Weight worries?
Xenical.
See that guy on the make?
I bet he's packing Viagra.
There's a miracle cure
for all our fears.
Maybe that girl just got dumped.
She's depressed.
Soon she'll be on Prozac.
And so on.
At the very best,
there's the fear of ageing.
Estrogen for her, testosterone for him.
Cheers!
We're all basket cases.
Too cheerful? 'Gaiety disorder.'
Rich but sad? 'Paradise syndrome.'
That's my favorite.
Serotonin tablets for the idle rich.
A bankable disease!
You? You'd be given
a sedative like Xanax
for post-traumatic shock.
See?
If you had the pills my son was taking,
what could you do?
Stuff 'em up my ass!
I could analyze them, yeah.
See you.
- Bye.
- Thanks.
Keep in touch this time.
Fleury's quite a hike.
You can trust him.
He worked for Glaxo
until they blacklisted him.
Just one thing.
When he said 'Fleury',
did he mean the penitentiary?
Yeah.
I torched the drug factory
that killed my husband.
- Any casualties?
- I know what I'm doing.
You do?
I used to be normal, too.
It's a thin line.
Much thinner than you think.
Wait. I'll drive you home.
We called it a day.
The guys need to change
and it's far.
We all wondered where you were.
See you there.
Dear relatives, dear friends
you have gathered around Frank
to wish him goodbye.
Before the cremation,
I invite each one of you
to step up and make a farewell gesture
with holy water
or simply touch the casket.
My sympathies.
Thank you.
My sympathies.
Those pills he was taking.
You know, for his migraines.
Did you notice anything?
Strange behavior,
drowsiness, anything?
Sorry.
It's too messed up to be certain
but it wasn't mechanical.
Brakes, transmission,
steering were OK.
I don't get it.
If he dozed off,
he'd have veered the other way,
not towards the ravine.
Maybe he swerved to avoid
a deer, a dog... or something.
That mindset is way too simplistic!
We have to think global!
Where are you going?
This isn't a drive-thru!
I'm sure you'll think up a great slogan,
as usual.
What does that mean?
The words on the banners are nothing.
We have to be in Davos
to wreck Verneuil's speech.
We agreed Davos is no go.
At the counter-summit in Lausanne,
all the media...
- Lapdog!
- Don't call me that!
OK?
By protesting where you're told,
you whitewash them.
You don't like it, stay out!
I can't afford the fare, anyhow.
- Sorry about your friends.
- Forget it.
What happened to you?
You were right.
Can you help me or not?
Am I still crazy?
I need to know about my son.
I met a guy who thought
he had the solution.
In the 1970s,
Klaus Barbie was holed up in Bolivia.
Klaus Barbie, the Nazi.
Posing as a journalist,
this guy planned to shoot him.
The idea was,
by killing Barbie,
he would go on trial.
His own trial
as Klaus Barbie's murderer
would be Barbie's trial.
The only way to drag Barbie into court
was by sacrificing himself.
So, did it work?
He went to La Paz, did the interview...
He had Barbie right there!
But he didn't draw the gun.
Too much to lose, I guess.
A life,
a family,
a job.
The culprit's name.
That's all I need.
It's not enough.
A name to start with.
How did you get Frank's name?
From Pleynel,
the boss of Nextys.
I swiped a printout.
I've had him in my sights.
His firm has a contract with Hexalor
to run their clinical trials.
In Africa, too.
Pleynel. Right.
Wait!
You'll need some help.
I'd rather work alone. Thanks.
Piece of shit!
Freeze!
Did you kill my son?
Who did? Name him! Scumbag!
Name your boss!
Get off me!
Name your boss! Who is it?
Stop it!
Give me a name!
You'll find out nothing
in prison.
Fuck!
Morning.
Good morning.
Prof. Pleynel can't see you!
He's not here.
Open up!
I order you to come out!
I'll call Security!
Help!
Stop!
Open up!
There he is!
Out the way!
The police are coming!
Get in!
Drive up to the control box.
The control box, madam.
Drive up to the control box!
Pick a program and pay.
I'll need your card.
PIN number?
Admit I saved your neck.
Better shut your window.
You'll get wet.
Admit it.
Wrong one. That's mine.
Face it. I saved your neck.
Face it!
We'll both get soaked.
This is ridiculous.
You'll soak all the...
Admit it!
One little word of thanks.
Say, like,
'Thanks for helping me out.'
It's not so hard.
OK. Thank you.
OK.
Do we have Pleynel's address?
Domaine du Lys, Chantilly.
Good night.
Was it him?
We're too far away. I told you.
Any closer, we'd...
I didn't know if you took sugar.
Actually, I take tea.
It doesn't matter.
This'll do.
It's cool.
I took your SIM card out
so they can't track us.
You know what a Columbian farmer
earns, compared with
the store price?
I bet Frank thought like me.
Maybe.
Last doubts about Pleynel?
Hold tight.
- Get out!
- Leave me alone!
What do you...
- Stop!
- Let go!
Why?
You're sick!
I'm not but my son was!
What do you want?
You killed him to get the pills back!
Say it!
She's mad!
She keeps harassing us!
Hexalor told you to rub out his son!
You sent your men to do it!
Ridiculous!
Hexalor isn't the mafia,
it's a drug company!
A profit-greedy multinational!
She's harassed dozens of my patients.
Shut up!
Your son's death wasn't my fault!
Think!
You think!
Don't!
Frank realized
your drug was shit.
You killed him before it went public!
Put it away!
Louise Verneuil can tell you more.
I'm only...
A piece of shit,
paid to take the rap!
Maybe,
but there's no rap to take!
So why did you run away?
I was scared.
Why, if you're innocent?
Why do you think?
- You ran over a cop.
- What?
With your car, yesterday.
His partner told me just now.
The guy was only trying
to caution her
after that stunt she pulled
at Verneuil's press conference.
She's on probation!
What would you have done
if I'd told you?
You'd have gone to the cops.
Look at him! We've nailed them!
Let me treat that cut.
Don't go!
You don't get what I'm saying.
It's not just about medicines,
your son, my husband.
It's much deeper.
It's about the whole planet,
the forests... They're monsters!
They want us all to be sick!
Stop it.
William? Diane.
Did you analyze those pills?
He's here. I'll put him on.
I have the results
for your son's pills.
- They're a placebo.
- What?
They're medically inert.
Why would they give him that?
Can we discuss it face to face?
OK, where?
Same place as before?
Right.
Keep walking.
Police! Hold it!
Quick! Run!
Come on!
Come on.
I don't understand.
Why would William say it's a placebo?
Because he knew the cops were onto him.
Because I killed their buddy.
Not because of Hexalor.
Are you sure?
Absolutely sure?
The question is, how do we use the time
before they catch us?
I didn't want this! Fuck!
Listen.
We know Verneuil is in Davos.
We could grab her there.
Are you crazy? Isn't this enough?
Aren't we in enough shit?
OK!
Tum yourself in.
You thought the cop was a thug.
He may not be dead.
You did it for me.
They'll be lenient.
But ask yourself first,
were they lenient with your son?
They kill kids in Africa every day.
Why not here?
Hang this up in your cell.
Come on!
Are you OK?
You're hit?
Take it easy.
Where are you hit?
Calm down.
You'll be OK.
Breathe.
Breathe calmly.
Breathe calmly.
You'll be OK.
Breathe!
I'm Raoul Kraft.
- Pleynel's aggressor?
- Frank Kraft's father.
I know what happened.
Talk.
May I...
I asked to see his file.
He was taking a placebo.
It wasn't to blame.
- The police spun me that.
- It's true.
All I know is,
they chose your son for his migraines,
but then realized he was depressive.
They should have taken him
off the protocol.
But now he's dead and you're saying
it wasn't an accident.
It can't have been.
Not on that bend, on that road.
It's impossible!
I believe you.
Believe me, too.
- Our drug didn't do it.
- You had him killed.
You don't believe it.
If your son wasn't the victim
of a murder,
or a medicine,
or, as you say, an accident,
there's only one explanation.
Isn't there?
It must be very hard to face.
But deep down, I think you know.
We always know these things
despite ourselves.
Most probably...
he took his own life.
I'm sincerely sorry.
Pleynel's lab
was in charge of the trials.
They shouldn't have picked your son.
He was too fragile.
They were vilely chasing profits.
We've canceled their contract.
I'll quite understand if you sue them.
We would willingly help you
reach a settlement.
I don't understand.
My son is dead
and you're offering me money
because you pretended to treat him?
Don't blame clinical trials.
They save countless lives.
In a faithless world,
we can't lose faith in medicine.
It would be agonizing.
You're not a murderer.
But in a way, you are.
In order to live rich, long lives,
we let millions die.
That's the only protocol.
We've all signed it.
Including you.
We're on in two minutes.
Kraft's in my room with a gun.
You here?
Why blame me?
The boy killed himself,
the dad went nuts.
I'm sorry but not guilty.
- You are.
- It could happen to anyone.
You were in charge.
It's a tougher battle than we expected
but we fight on, day after day,
to invent new drugs.
The launch of a new medicine...
...the fruit of years of research.
Ten years of work,
intricate formulas,
costly research,
millions of dollars
devoted to curing people.
Our modest contribution...
What does the Alternative collective
think of Louise Verneuil's murder?
Of course we cannot condone such acts
but Kraft is not
the true defendant here.
The true defendant is the drug industry
and the way it works.
All the pandemics
in the world are due
to a lack of global healthcare.
Why?
Because the system is profit- driven.
Will this trial change things?
I hope so. Recently,
after the World Health Organization
conducted an inquiry in Sudan,
they stopped hosting clinical trials.
It's a step in the right direction.
Translation by Nigel Palmer