The film claims that the battle against what it refers to as a "genocidal blockade," which it estimates to have resulted in no less than ten to twelve million completely unnecessary deaths, was fought and (at least temporarily) won.

Fire in the Blood features contributions from former US President Bill Clinton, intellectual property activist James Love, global health reporter Donald McNeil, Jr. of The New York Times, HIV/AIDS treatment activist Zackie Achmat, pioneering generic drug maker Yusuf Hamied, former Pfizer executive-turned-whistleblower Peter Rost, Ugandan AIDS physician Peter Mugyenyi, and Nobel Prize-laureates Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz.

"[5] Filmmaker Dylan Mohan Gray first learned of the issue in 2004, after he read an article in The Economist about the battle between pharmaceutical companies and the global public health community over access to lower-cost AIDS drugs for Africa.

[10] Fire in the Blood received positive critical notices, both to its North American premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, as well as to its subsequent theatrical releases in Ireland, Britain, the United States and India.

[18] The English critic Philip French, in his review for The Observer described the film as "quietly devastating", praised Gray's choice in avoiding a polemical tone and allowing the material to speak for itself.

"[21] Author John le Carré (who became involved with the issue of pharmaceutical company abuses while researching his landmark 2001 novel The Constant Gardener) called Fire in the Blood "a blessing... full of conviction, passion and unanswerable argument".