Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Withholding the Cure

 Withholding the Cure
type
FeatureClass
 Withholding the Cure
label
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure
page
WithholdingTheCure
 Withholding the Cure
comment
Good news! There is finally a cure for that horrible disease. Too bad the cure is owned by Peace & Love Incorporated, who refuse to distribute it because they believe they can squeeze more money out of people who remain sick, or by the evil overlord who wants the people to die off so he can move in and occupy the land.
Withholding the Cure is when the cure really works and it is what people really need, but someone is keeping it from people for their own selfish reasons.
Compare and contrast Manufacturing Victims, which involves therapists keeping their patients in therapy. Then there's withholding medication to keep people in therapy, or withholding therapy to keep people on medication, both of which can be Truth in Television: In Real Life, some people need medication, some need therapy, some need a combination of both, and many need neither.
Sub-Trope of Information Wants to Be Free. Contrast Poison and Cure Gambit, where the villains are usually more than happy to distribute the cure (for a far-from-modest fee, of course), but in any case created the demand for the cure by starting the actual disease!
As you may know, this trope overlaps with Predatory Big Pharma to form one of the biggest conspiracy theories in the world: the belief that "Big Pharma" has developed cures for AIDS, cancer, the common cold and so on,note Despite the common cold and cancer both not being a single disease but a type of disease but would rather sell treatments that don't actually cure anything just to maximize profits — even although, due to the way both medicine and diseases work, it would be highly debatable whether commercializing the cure would not be at least just as profitable.note Depends on the individual theory and the extent of its claims, of course, but the standard variation summed above is basically describing a self-defeating plan. Expensive, less effective treatments have those exact problems — not everybody in the world can afford them, and given that not even people who can are guaranteed to survive, that's also one less consumer for every patient dying, not to mention those who are discouraged from trying to get it for this reason. Meanwhile, a cheaper, clearly reliable cure would ensure a much wider base of consumers in every possible range, and because people can have cancer more than once in their lives (it's common, actually), patients alive and happy would have a chance to need the cure again rather than dropping out forever from the buyers' list. As such, no real-life examples unless you have documentation of actual cure-withholding, not just speculation and people's perceptions.
 Withholding the Cure
fetched
2024-04-14T02:46:38Z
 Withholding the Cure
parsed
2024-04-14T02:46:38Z
 Withholding the Cure
processingComment
Dropped link to BigBad: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Withholding the Cure
processingComment
Dropped link to ConquerorFromTheFuture: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Withholding the Cure
processingComment
Dropped link to CorruptCorporateExecutive: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Withholding the Cure
processingComment
Dropped link to InvertedTrope: Not an Item - IGNORE
 Withholding the Cure
processingComment
Dropped link to OlderThanSteam: Not an Item - CAT
 Withholding the Cure
processingComment
Dropped link to playercharacter: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Withholding the Cure
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Withholding the Cure / int_175c346f
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_175c346f
comment
The Syfy Channel Original Movie Do Or Die 2003 has the Big Bad running a corporation that is hailed as heroic for finding a cure for an aging disease, but they still love to ration it or jack up the price all the time.
 Withholding the Cure / int_175c346f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_175c346f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Syfy Channel Original Movie
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_175c346f
 Withholding the Cure / int_1bdeba5a
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_1bdeba5a
comment
Doctor Doom apparently has a good method of treating burn victims, which he's withholding because he's... well... Doom. In X-Men vs. the Fantastic Four, he uses it on Storm after she was grievously injured in a fight with the Human Torch in order to endear himself to the X-Men, but it's never been seen since. X-Men ally Dr. Moira MacTaggart even wonders why he just sits on this medical breakthrough when it can be used to help millions.
 Withholding the Cure / int_1bdeba5a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_1bdeba5a
featureConfidence
1.0
 X-Men (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_1bdeba5a
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e4d8e4e
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e4d8e4e
comment
In the Bonanza episode "My Brother's Keeper", Hoss rides into town to get the life-saving medicine for his brother Joe. On his way home, Hoss is ambushed by some thugs who hold the medicine for ransom.
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e4d8e4e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e4d8e4e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bonanza
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_1e4d8e4e
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e91c61c
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e91c61c
comment
TAO of Wild C.A.T.s (WildStorm) claims to have the cures for AIDS and all forms of cancer, as well as a genetic patent on a strain of corn that will end world hunger forever. He uses these as bargaining chips when he gets in trouble. Majestic doesn't care.
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e91c61c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_1e91c61c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Wild C.A.T.s (WildStorm) (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_1e91c61c
 Withholding the Cure / int_2172e43f
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_2172e43f
comment
In the Season of Infamy DLC of Batman: Arkham Knight, players can choose to let Ra's al Ghul die by destroying the last Lazarus Pit on Earth.
 Withholding the Cure / int_2172e43f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_2172e43f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Batman: Arkham Knight (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_2172e43f
 Withholding the Cure / int_22211d68
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_22211d68
comment
A killer in Bones modifies a virus which kills his employee who found out what he was doing. Arastoo sticks his finger on a needle embedded in a bone and is near death by the time Booth drags the killer into the lab. The guy initially refuses to give up the anti-serum because it's as good as a confession. He reconsiders, though, when Brennan stabs him with a syringe that she says has the virus in it.
 Withholding the Cure / int_22211d68
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_22211d68
featureConfidence
1.0
 Bones
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_22211d68
 Withholding the Cure / int_2250e67e
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_2250e67e
comment
Star Trek: Enterprise: In "Dear Doctor", Archer decides to let an entire species die from a disease that Phlox could cure so that another race on the planet could have an "evolutionary breakthrough".
 Withholding the Cure / int_2250e67e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_2250e67e
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Enterprise
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_2250e67e
 Withholding the Cure / int_231df7d2
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_231df7d2
comment
V (1983): As part of a campaign against scientists, it's claimed medical researchers have withheld cancer treatments to insure they keep getting research money.
 Withholding the Cure / int_231df7d2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_231df7d2
featureConfidence
1.0
 V (1983)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_231df7d2
 Withholding the Cure / int_25699ed9
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_25699ed9
comment
In La Bayadere, the titular temple dancer Nikea is bitten by a poisonous snake (placed in a bouquet by her love rival and her rival's father). The High Brahmin has the antidote, but he refuses to give it to her unless she gives up her love for Solor and agrees to be with him instead.
 Withholding the Cure / int_25699ed9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_25699ed9
featureConfidence
1.0
 La Bayadere (Theatre)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_25699ed9
 Withholding the Cure / int_2705e27b
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_2705e27b
comment
Invoked in Empire. With Lucious desperate for a cure for his impending ALS, he approaches a "doctor" who claims to have developed a treatment that can cure ALS, but his research has been suppressed by the US government due to this trope. Needless to say, the charlatan skipped town with Lucious' money before the latter realized that the phony treatment was only making him sicker.
 Withholding the Cure / int_2705e27b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_2705e27b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Empire
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_2705e27b
 Withholding the Cure / int_31a48eed
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_31a48eed
comment
The Outer Limits (1995):
Played with in "Blood Brothers", in which an attempt to create a safe and reliable Knockout Gas for crowd control results in a drug that seems to boost body's ability to fight off any disease or toxin. The chimp that it's tested on is able to take several shots of cyanide without a problem. The scientist's brother is a Corrupt Corporate Executive, who immediately clamps down on the supposed panacea, claiming that it's likely to cause overcrowding, as people will no longer be dying at the same rate, while still breeding like rabbits. The scientist treats it as an attempt to make money, even though it's a clear case of Jerkass Has a Point (i.e., without Population Control, any such cure would be really bad for humanity). The exec brother then uses the drug on himself in order to treat his Parkinson's. However, at the end, it's discovered that the supposed "cure" is actually Cast from Lifespan, draining the body of all resources, until the person (or the above-mentioned chimp) just drops dead in a matter of days, completely spent. The exec brother spends the rest of his life in a sterile life support chamber, unable to move, as his body is no longer able to sustain itself.
Inverted in "The New Breed", in which a scientist is perfectly willing to release his new nanite-based cure that would make cancer (or any other cell-related problem) a thing of the past, only to meet opposition from people claiming that he's playing God. On the other hand, he's only at the testing phase, and the "cure" isn't even close to being ready for distribution yet. A friend of his ends up injecting himself with nanites in order to cure his terminal-stage cancer, which works at first (even fixing his poor eyesight), but the untested nanites then start making "modifications" to his body, reacting to what they perceive are flaws (e.g. inability to breathe underwater, limited vision, and need for additional defense mechanisms). In the end, the scientist is forced to kill the poor sap (at his own request) and burns down his lab in the process, forever destroying the potential cure.
 Withholding the Cure / int_31a48eed
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_31a48eed
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Outer Limits (1995)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_31a48eed
 Withholding the Cure / int_3c5675b
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_3c5675b
comment
Wakanda (the home nation of the Black Panther) has had the cures for pretty much everything (along with free energy, spaceflight, etc.) for centuries but refuses to release them, at least when written by Reginald Hudlin.
 Withholding the Cure / int_3c5675b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_3c5675b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Black Panther (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_3c5675b
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b5
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b5
comment
In Dead Rising 2, Zombie Infectees can indefinitely delay their transformation into zombies via daily doses of Zombrex. There are accusations that the Evil Drug Company that makes the drug is working to prevent a cure from being discovered for economic and political power. They're actually causing bi-yearly outbreaks to ensure a steady supply of the parasitic wasps used to make the drug — this also causes the uninfected to stockpile the drug, driving up their stock price. Cue gunfight.
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dead Rising 2 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b5
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b6
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b6
comment
Dead Rising 3 confirms that there is a cure, but Mallon didn't own it. However, she triggered an outbreak in the city the cure was in so that the military separatists she was working with could keep the cure to themselves. Their Evil Plan was to take over America with a combination of brute military force and mass-infections, forcing the survivors to kneel to the traitors or die to the virus (or their guns).
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dead Rising 3 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_3e0b28b6
 Withholding the Cure / int_4b96a87d
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_4b96a87d
comment
Superman: Doomsday briefly mentions this as a Kick the Dog moment. Lex Luthor has found a cure for muscular dystrophy, but he's holding it back until he can slow it down to a lifetime treatment and make more money, as he's not satisfied with the $300 billion he estimates it would already make him. The research, however, will have to be delayed because Luthor's scientists are already busy at similar projects. Superman, by contrast, is actively trying to cure cancer and is frustrated at his lack of progress.
 Withholding the Cure / int_4b96a87d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_4b96a87d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Superman: Doomsday
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_4b96a87d
 Withholding the Cure / int_4d1ba412
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_4d1ba412
comment
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Dracula has found the cure for cancer, but he tells Doc he hid it on Mars. He did this because he thinks it'll be funny when humanity does reach Mars and finds it, and realizes how obvious it is.
 Withholding the Cure / int_4d1ba412
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_4d1ba412
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_4d1ba412
 Withholding the Cure / int_4f115950
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_4f115950
comment
Robin (1993): When the Teen Titans break into one of Lex Luthor's secret labs in order to steal a cure for what's currently killing Superboy, Speedy asks them to keep an eye out for anything labeled "cure for AIDS" and everyone agrees to, noting that it would be in character for Lex to hide such a discovery since they're literally there to steal a cure Lex kept secret. Unfortunately, the lab they're in has a distinct focus on Kryptonian and Coluan biology rather than human.
 Withholding the Cure / int_4f115950
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_4f115950
featureConfidence
1.0
 Robin (1993) (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_4f115950
 Withholding the Cure / int_526d4c5c
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_526d4c5c
comment
Knights of the Old Republic: The Sith keep the rakghoul cure to themselves so their troops can walk around the Undercity without opposition. Your character encounters a pack with some serum in it, as a patrol got ambushed and eaten by the beasts. You now have the option to give it to an Upper City doctor who will make it cheaply available for everyone or hand it over to a crime boss's middleman. It'll be available, just so ridiculously expensive the people who would benefit can't afford it.
 Withholding the Cure / int_526d4c5c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_526d4c5c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Knights of the Old Republic (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_526d4c5c
 Withholding the Cure / int_5a47599
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_5a47599
comment
Batman: Arkham Series:
In Batman: Arkham City, Batman has Mr. Freeze synthesize a cure for Joker's Titan-poisoned blood, but Freeze destroys the first vial and threatens Batman that he'll destroy the rest if he doesn't rescue Nora from the Joker. In the ending, Batman seemingly considers this due to the unstoppable cycle of prison breaks and deaths Joker always causes. Batman was willing to give him the cure, but Joker stabbed Bats on the shoulder before revealing this. This results in Batman dropping and accidentally destroying the cure. Joker blames Batman for this, but finds the fact that Bats was ready to cure him humorous, and dies laughing. As there were no witnesses, most thugs in Gotham believe that Batman withheld the cure on purpose.
In the Season of Infamy DLC of Batman: Arkham Knight, players can choose to let Ra's al Ghul die by destroying the last Lazarus Pit on Earth.
 Withholding the Cure / int_5a47599
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_5a47599
featureConfidence
1.0
 Batman: Arkham Series (Franchise)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_5a47599
 Withholding the Cure / int_61028f2
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_61028f2
comment
In Johnny Mnemonic, the world is in the grips of a pandemic, and an evil drug company that went through all the time and trouble to research, develop, and test a working cure for the pandemic doesn't want anybody to have it, and is chasing after the title character in order to suppress information on the cure that's locked in his Neuro-Vault. As long as the cure is suppressed, the evil drug company keeps making billions off "Paralon-B" — the watered-down cure — as "treating the disease is more profitable than curing it." The evil drug company even goes so far as to deny the cure to its own top executives, so at least they were consistent.
 Withholding the Cure / int_61028f2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_61028f2
featureConfidence
1.0
 Johnny Mnemonic
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_61028f2
 Withholding the Cure / int_62570927
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_62570927
comment
Marvel Universe:
Wakanda (the home nation of the Black Panther) has had the cures for pretty much everything (along with free energy, spaceflight, etc.) for centuries but refuses to release them, at least when written by Reginald Hudlin.
Norman Osborn also has the cure for cancer. He ends up weaponizing it when a pissed-off Deadpool comes gunning for him after Osborn steals his victory in Secret Invasion (2008).
Doctor Doom apparently has a good method of treating burn victims, which he's withholding because he's... well... Doom. In X-Men vs. the Fantastic Four, he uses it on Storm after she was grievously injured in a fight with the Human Torch in order to endear himself to the X-Men, but it's never been seen since. X-Men ally Dr. Moira MacTaggart even wonders why he just sits on this medical breakthrough when it can be used to help millions.
In Doctor Strange: The Oath, Doc retrieves a magical elixir that has the power to "erase what troubles the mind of man", hoping it can save Wong's life. It turns out to be the Cure for Cancer (and everything else), which causes a corrupt pharmaceuticals company to send an assassin to shoot Strange and steal the elixir. For extra points, Wong is dying of cancer and being kept alive with "Timelozar", which is manufactured solely by "Timely Pharmaceuticals", the exact same company that sent the assassin.
Scarlet Centurion has cured cancer, and offers it to Squadron Supreme member, Tom Thumb in exchange for poisoning fellow team member, Hyperion. He refuses and the Centurion gets a chuckle out of the torment he caused.
Spider-Man character Cardiac became a vigilante/superhero when his brother died because of corporations using this policy.
On a lighter note, when Reed Richards of Fantastic Four was messing around with calculations one day, he stumbled on a permanent cure for acne. Revlon and a dozen other companies are paying him dumptrucks full of money not to release it.
 Withholding the Cure / int_62570927
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_62570927
featureConfidence
1.0
 Marvel Universe (Franchise)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_62570927
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b3
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b3
comment
The Pitt (post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh) from Fallout 3 is an irradiated city where the slaves all suffer from a horrible disease while the one in charge holds the cure but refuses to share it, though it turns out that the cure is his own infant daughter who was born with immunity; the reason he's withholding it is because he doesn't want to hurt her for the sake of the cure. The Lone Wanderer has the choice of siding with the tyrant in charge or a rebel leader to free the slaves and take the cure.
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b3
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout 3 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b3
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b4
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b4
comment
In Fallout 4, you visit Vault 81, a seemingly normal vault, when a young boy named Austin stumbles into a hidden passage to an unexplored sealed off section of the vault — and gets bitten by a diseased mole rat. He is infected with the Synthetic Plague that the mole rat was carrying, forcing you to venture into that section of the vault to find a cure. Unfortunately, unless you are either very careful or engage in a lot of Save Scumming, you can easily get bitten and contract the same disease yourself. And when you find the cure, there is only enough left for one person. At this point, if you have contracted the disease, you can deny the cure to Austin to cure yourself. Problem is, the disease is lethal to the boy, but only inflicts a measly 10 HP penalty on you. Naturally, withholding the cure pisses off the entire vault and they forbid you from ever entering again.
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout 4 (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_6c1d09b4
 Withholding the Cure / int_6cd6c4e8
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_6cd6c4e8
comment
In the penultimate episode of iZombie, Liv and the gang finally manage to get a sample of the original Utopium, the drug that created the zombie outbreak, to major scientist Saxon, assuming he'll have an instant cure whipped up in weeks. Instead, Saxon and his company decide they can make far more money with "chronic treatments" rather than an instant cure.
 Withholding the Cure / int_6cd6c4e8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_6cd6c4e8
featureConfidence
1.0
 iZombie
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_6cd6c4e8
 Withholding the Cure / int_7291539d
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_7291539d
comment
In Batman: Arkham City, Batman has Mr. Freeze synthesize a cure for Joker's Titan-poisoned blood, but Freeze destroys the first vial and threatens Batman that he'll destroy the rest if he doesn't rescue Nora from the Joker. In the ending, Batman seemingly considers this due to the unstoppable cycle of prison breaks and deaths Joker always causes. Batman was willing to give him the cure, but Joker stabbed Bats on the shoulder before revealing this. This results in Batman dropping and accidentally destroying the cure. Joker blames Batman for this, but finds the fact that Bats was ready to cure him humorous, and dies laughing. As there were no witnesses, most thugs in Gotham believe that Batman withheld the cure on purpose.
 Withholding the Cure / int_7291539d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_7291539d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Batman: Arkham City (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_7291539d
 Withholding the Cure / int_7588254f
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_7588254f
comment
Continuum:
In the first season finale, the pharmaceutical industry executives Kagame targets in the season finale were meeting to do this, along with price-fixing.
The third season has Kiera upset to find Liber8 are going after a company who will manufacture the cure to a deadly disease in the future. But in the course of the investigation, Kiera realizes that the company themselves developed the disease just so they could profit off selling the cure.
 Withholding the Cure / int_7588254f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_7588254f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Continuum
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_7588254f
 Withholding the Cure / int_76cb191b
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_76cb191b
comment
The Invisibles has, as one of its many conspiracy subplots, the agents of the Conspiracy being in full possession of the AIDS vaccine... which they engineered before they released AIDS into the world, so that they could chart its influence among "target populations".
 Withholding the Cure / int_76cb191b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_76cb191b
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Invisibles (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_76cb191b
 Withholding the Cure / int_78640f76
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_78640f76
comment
Highlander: The Search for Vengeance has this as one of the hero's main annoyances, behind the killing of his wife.
 Withholding the Cure / int_78640f76
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_78640f76
featureConfidence
1.0
 Highlander: The Search for Vengeance
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_78640f76
 Withholding the Cure / int_793a2518
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_793a2518
comment
In Sanitarium, it is eventually revealed that the Big Bad doctor Morgan attempted to kill the protagonist due to the latter discovering a cure to a deadly child-killing disease, one that Morgan's MERCy corporation was very profitably treating.
 Withholding the Cure / int_793a2518
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_793a2518
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sanitarium (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_793a2518
 Withholding the Cure / int_7d32af5
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_7d32af5
comment
In Presentable Liberty, Doctor Money holds off the real cure, and instead sells a false cure that causes organ failure, and later organs of "dubious origin". The player character is one of the few people to receive the cure.
 Withholding the Cure / int_7d32af5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_7d32af5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Presentable Liberty (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_7d32af5
 Withholding the Cure / int_7f5bc680
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_7f5bc680
comment
Fallout:
The Pitt (post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh) from Fallout 3 is an irradiated city where the slaves all suffer from a horrible disease while the one in charge holds the cure but refuses to share it, though it turns out that the cure is his own infant daughter who was born with immunity; the reason he's withholding it is because he doesn't want to hurt her for the sake of the cure. The Lone Wanderer has the choice of siding with the tyrant in charge or a rebel leader to free the slaves and take the cure.
In Fallout 4, you visit Vault 81, a seemingly normal vault, when a young boy named Austin stumbles into a hidden passage to an unexplored sealed off section of the vault — and gets bitten by a diseased mole rat. He is infected with the Synthetic Plague that the mole rat was carrying, forcing you to venture into that section of the vault to find a cure. Unfortunately, unless you are either very careful or engage in a lot of Save Scumming, you can easily get bitten and contract the same disease yourself. And when you find the cure, there is only enough left for one person. At this point, if you have contracted the disease, you can deny the cure to Austin to cure yourself. Problem is, the disease is lethal to the boy, but only inflicts a measly 10 HP penalty on you. Naturally, withholding the cure pisses off the entire vault and they forbid you from ever entering again.
 Withholding the Cure / int_7f5bc680
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_7f5bc680
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fallout
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_7f5bc680
 Withholding the Cure / int_81692f99
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_81692f99
comment
Star Trek:
Played with in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Symbiosis": the Ornarans claim they need felicium to treat a plague that is affecting their world. Their only source of it is through the Brekkians, and this is the only commerce between the worlds. Dr. Crusher determines that the felicium is an addictive narcotic and that the plague has long been cured. While the Prime Directive forbids Picard from revealing the truth to the wronged race, he finds a way to correct the situation by refusing to repair their few remaining ships. Without the ships, they will have no way to get the drug and will eventually realize they're not actually sick.
Star Trek: Voyager: In "Night", the Malons' hat is looking for a Landfill Beyond the Stars to dump radioactive antimatter waste from inferior warp technology. The current captain's dumping ground is inhabited so the crew look for a better way: Federation warp technology, which recycles its theta radiation. He rejects this as it would put him out of business. Chakotay points out that he's throwing away a great business opportunity, but he counters that he is already making lots of money thanks to his secret dumping ground, and would rather bet on what he has, than risk the financial chaos caused by the introduction of a world-changing technology. They never try this tactic with any other Malon captain, presumably assuming they would reject it for the same reason.
Star Trek: Enterprise: In "Dear Doctor", Archer decides to let an entire species die from a disease that Phlox could cure so that another race on the planet could have an "evolutionary breakthrough".
 Withholding the Cure / int_81692f99
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_81692f99
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek (Franchise)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_81692f99
 Withholding the Cure / int_846a7ec0
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_846a7ec0
comment
Drowtales: The Sharen rediscover a deadly parasitic spore plant from their expeditions, and invent a cure so they can spread an enhanced version of the disease, leaving only their supporters standing. Unfortunately, the Saghress react by killing the scientist responsible for enhancing the disease... who also happens to be the only person who knows anything about the cure, leading to an incurable pandemic.
 Withholding the Cure / int_846a7ec0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_846a7ec0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Drowtales (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_846a7ec0
 Withholding the Cure / int_8989d113
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_8989d113
comment
Ixia and Sitia: In Poison Study, Yelena is poisoned early on with something called Butterfly's Dust that will kill her if she doesn't get a daily dose of the antidote from her keeper. This turns out to be made up, though.
 Withholding the Cure / int_8989d113
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_8989d113
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ixia and Sitia
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_8989d113
 Withholding the Cure / int_89f61c67
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_89f61c67
comment
In Mission: Impossible II, a good scientist spliced countless influenza viruses together into a super-influenza as part of the process of creating a universal cure for influenza. That worked out perfectly, and would have been worth billions. Unfortunately, he didn't realize until it was too late that he was working for an Evil Drug Company — that realized that his superflu would be worth hundreds of billions to the right buyer... and when he discovered this and went to the IMF for help, the agent they sent realized that a superflu outbreak would make a universal cure worth trillions. Cue gunfights.
 Withholding the Cure / int_89f61c67
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_89f61c67
featureConfidence
1.0
 Mission: Impossible II
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_89f61c67
 Withholding the Cure / int_8bd22b6a
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_8bd22b6a
comment
Schlock Mercenary: The U.N.S. accidentally invented a cure for age-induced death while experimenting with super-soldier genetics, but they kept the results a national secret for centuries, out of fear of being pressured by the public into freely distributing unstable military-grade augmentations as medical supplies. Their motivation rings hollow once Petey reverse-engineers and isolates the cure for public use in a matter of years.
 Withholding the Cure / int_8bd22b6a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_8bd22b6a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_8bd22b6a
 Withholding the Cure / int_8df52a8d
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_8df52a8d
comment
Following Superboy's return to the land of the living in Final Crisis, he believes that Lex Luthor does have a shred of humanity left in him and seeks to bring it out by helping him cure his ailing sister. He does so, lets her enjoy her freedom... then restores her illness, promising that as long as Superman lives, no one gets what he can create.
 Withholding the Cure / int_8df52a8d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_8df52a8d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Superboy (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_8df52a8d
 Withholding the Cure / int_9d47a2a2
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_9d47a2a2
comment
A Song of Ice and Fire: Inverted. Littlefinger is practically stuffing the "curing" medication down little Robert Arryn's neck via a Maester (or using the poor guy as camouflage) in a bid to fully control when to kill the patient with it under the cover of helping them. The Vale is, unknowingly, being held to ransom as a result. Remember, folks: too much of an otherwise good thing is often bad.
 Withholding the Cure / int_9d47a2a2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_9d47a2a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 A Song of Ice and Fire
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_9d47a2a2
 Withholding the Cure / int_9e2f90f4
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_9e2f90f4
comment
One Piece: During his reign of Drum Island, Wapol removed as many doctors he could find from his kingdom, save his own personal staff of 20. If any citizen needed medical attention, they had to beg him for it.
 Withholding the Cure / int_9e2f90f4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_9e2f90f4
featureConfidence
1.0
 One Piece (Manga)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_9e2f90f4
 Withholding the Cure / int_9f5bbbd6
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_9f5bbbd6
comment
In Doctor Strange: The Oath, Doc retrieves a magical elixir that has the power to "erase what troubles the mind of man", hoping it can save Wong's life. It turns out to be the Cure for Cancer (and everything else), which causes a corrupt pharmaceuticals company to send an assassin to shoot Strange and steal the elixir. For extra points, Wong is dying of cancer and being kept alive with "Timelozar", which is manufactured solely by "Timely Pharmaceuticals", the exact same company that sent the assassin.
 Withholding the Cure / int_9f5bbbd6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_9f5bbbd6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Strange: The Oath (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_9f5bbbd6
 Withholding the Cure / int_a03824e8
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_a03824e8
comment
The DCU:
Following Superboy's return to the land of the living in Final Crisis, he believes that Lex Luthor does have a shred of humanity left in him and seeks to bring it out by helping him cure his ailing sister. He does so, lets her enjoy her freedom... then restores her illness, promising that as long as Superman lives, no one gets what he can create.
Robin (1993): When the Teen Titans break into one of Lex Luthor's secret labs in order to steal a cure for what's currently killing Superboy, Speedy asks them to keep an eye out for anything labeled "cure for AIDS" and everyone agrees to, noting that it would be in character for Lex to hide such a discovery since they're literally there to steal a cure Lex kept secret. Unfortunately, the lab they're in has a distinct focus on Kryptonian and Coluan biology rather than human.
 Withholding the Cure / int_a03824e8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_a03824e8
featureConfidence
1.0
 The DCU (Franchise)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_a03824e8
 Withholding the Cure / int_a2cb8177
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_a2cb8177
comment
Norman Osborn also has the cure for cancer. He ends up weaponizing it when a pissed-off Deadpool comes gunning for him after Osborn steals his victory in Secret Invasion (2008).
 Withholding the Cure / int_a2cb8177
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_a2cb8177
featureConfidence
1.0
 Secret Invasion (2008) (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_a2cb8177
 Withholding the Cure / int_b2653c12
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_b2653c12
comment
In Abarat, Christopher Carrion withheld a cure for a beast boy's condition in return for the boy's unwavering loyalty.
 Withholding the Cure / int_b2653c12
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_b2653c12
featureConfidence
1.0
 Abarat
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_b2653c12
 Withholding the Cure / int_b4996199
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_b4996199
comment
Spider-Man character Cardiac became a vigilante/superhero when his brother died because of corporations using this policy.
 Withholding the Cure / int_b4996199
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_b4996199
featureConfidence
1.0
 Spider-Man (Comic Book)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_b4996199
 Withholding the Cure / int_b9419bd1
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_b9419bd1
comment
The prequel, Human Revolution has an variation. The company VersaLife, the same front company who distributed the vaccine to Grey Death in the original, makes Neuropozyne, a drug that prevents the human body rejecting mechanical augmentations. It is the only drug known to do this, meaning it is necessary to most augmented people and as a result had made the company a lot of money. The company is controlled by the Illuminati, who use the drug as a measure of control. Sarif Industries have discovered an implantable material based on the biology of the protagonist, Adam Jensen, that may render Neuropozyne obsolete, so the Illuminati have the research labs destroyed and scientists involved kidnapped to prevent their control being challenged. These actions kick start the events of the game. By the end, it is revealed that one of the scientists involved also works on the Grey Death from the original.
 Withholding the Cure / int_b9419bd1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_b9419bd1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_b9419bd1
 Withholding the Cure / int_c43df4d8
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_c43df4d8
comment
Doctor Who: In "Dalek", Henry van Statten brags about having discovered a cure for the common cold — which he isn't going to give to anyone, as it gets him more money if he just sells the existing medication.
 Withholding the Cure / int_c43df4d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_c43df4d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_c43df4d8
 Withholding the Cure / int_c72021c5
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_c72021c5
comment
This is one of many conspiracies present in Deus Ex — the people who control the treatment also created the plague.
 Withholding the Cure / int_c72021c5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_c72021c5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Deus Ex (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_c72021c5
 Withholding the Cure / int_ccc941ea
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_ccc941ea
comment
An important late-game game mechanic in Big Pharma — if you make a cure too good, its rating will skyrocket, followed by its price... for a little bit, when it stops treating suffers and starts curing them, permanently reducing demand (and thus price) for the cure. One of the reasons "Female Contraceptive" is such a good cure to focus on is it's guaranteed never to be, uh, cured.
 Withholding the Cure / int_ccc941ea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_ccc941ea
featureConfidence
1.0
 Big Pharma (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_ccc941ea
 Withholding the Cure / int_cd59f6a6
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_cd59f6a6
comment
Used in The Lunar Chronicles, and quite cruelly at that, by the Lunar Queen Levana. There is a plague sweeping Prince Kai's kingdom, infecting thousands and thousands of people, including his own father, the Emperor. Just hours after his father's death (which was slow and painful) Levana arrives, offering one vial of the antidote — just enough to cure one adult male. She offers her sincerest sympathies that she arrived just a little too late for the cure to save Kai's father. She continues to withhold it as a way of forcing Kai to marry her and subsequently giving her control of his kingdom. Making it even worse, the Lunars are the ones responsible for the plague in the first place, albeit unintentionally, a fact of which Levana is well aware.
 Withholding the Cure / int_cd59f6a6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_cd59f6a6
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Lunar Chronicles
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_cd59f6a6
 Withholding the Cure / int_d036e404
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_d036e404
comment
In Oryx and Crake, Crake pulls this one on the entire world, creating a wildly contagious hemorrhagic virus which he then implanted in supplement pills. He had the cure (and had indeed ensured that at least one person was immune to the virus) but had no plans to distribute it, since his Evil Plan hinged on most or all of the human race dying.
 Withholding the Cure / int_d036e404
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_d036e404
featureConfidence
1.0
 Oryx and Crake
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_d036e404
 Withholding the Cure / int_d6c9c0a4
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_d6c9c0a4
comment
The first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex deals with this in the form of the Murai Vaccine, a cure for an otherwise-incurable disease called cyberbrain sclerosis, and the various conspiracies at work to keep the vaccine from being approved for the general public in favor of nanomachine-based treatments — ineffective ones that nonetheless serve as excellent test cases for technologies that help Japan Takes Over the World. One such is a subversion of the Enhance Button. Worst part? Corrupt Corporate Executives and Corrupt Politicians use it freely in secrecy, saving themselves while using the citizenry as guinea pigs.
 Withholding the Cure / int_d6c9c0a4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_d6c9c0a4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_d6c9c0a4
 Withholding the Cure / int_d709b969
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_d709b969
comment
In The Elric Saga, Elric is an otherwise sickly and weak albino who needs exotic drugs or the dread sword Stormbringer to live. In one story, the villain Yyrkoon keeps him prisoner and withholds both the drugs and access to the Sword for the sheer pleasure of watching his nemesis sicken and die.
 Withholding the Cure / int_d709b969
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_d709b969
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Elric Saga
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_d709b969
 Withholding the Cure / int_d73c86a7
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_d73c86a7
comment
Leverage: Redemption: In "The Card Game Job", Cordozar's pharmaceutical company has the cure to a potentially lethal medical condition. He suppresses it so that he can force the victims and their families to spend their whole lives paying for treatment that they need to come back for again and again while he keeps on collecting grant money from the government to finance the battle against that disease.
 Withholding the Cure / int_d73c86a7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_d73c86a7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Leverage: Redemption
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_d73c86a7
 Withholding the Cure / int_d76723b5
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_d76723b5
comment
In Ultraviolet (2006), Media Scaremongering against hemophages as monsters instead of treating them as victims of disease enabled the Evil Drug Company that has become the "Militant Medical Establishment" known as the ArchMinistry. Unfortunately, they did too good a job of hunting them and, by the time of the movie, needed a new threat to "protect" the world from — a "human antigen", cultivated inside of a Living MacGuffin. Once it's released, people will have to line up at ArchMinistry to get the cure or die. Cue Gun Kata.
 Withholding the Cure / int_d76723b5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_d76723b5
featureConfidence
1.0
 Ultraviolet (2006)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_d76723b5
 Withholding the Cure / int_db30cf92
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_db30cf92
comment
Warrior Cats:
Moth Flight's Vision has one of Clear Sky and Star Flower's kits get very sick, and Moth Flight wants to go over there and help the couple and their kits since she knows the cure. Wind Runner refuses to let her go over there, partly because of tensions rising between WindClan and SkyClan and partly because she still remembers Clear Sky's past crimes. Because of this, the kit ends up dying.
Thunder and Shadow from the arc A Vision of Shadows shows that ShadowClan cats are getting very sick, so Puddleshine, ShadowClan's new medicine cat, goes over to WindClan to ask for ragwort so he can cure them. Onestar refuses to spare some herbs (even if his territory has plenty of it) and sends him away. Thankfully, Onestar's deputy Harespring is more merciful and offers Puddleshine some ragwort, saying that he won't let innocent cats die because of Onestar.
 Withholding the Cure / int_db30cf92
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_db30cf92
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warrior Cats
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_db30cf92
 Withholding the Cure / int_db3b75ff
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_db3b75ff
comment
In one episode of Barney Miller, the perp is a research scientist who has destroyed the property of his former employers because they refused to let him research the cure for some disease on the grounds that it wasn't fatal and there were too few sufferers for a cure to be profitable. Barney manages to talk his former boss into dropping charges and rehiring the guy, partly with the argument that by the time the cure is developed, there may be an epidemic, "with any luck".
 Withholding the Cure / int_db3b75ff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_db3b75ff
featureConfidence
1.0
 Barney Miller
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_db3b75ff
 Withholding the Cure / int_dc4363c5
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_dc4363c5
comment
Played straight in the final season of True Blood. In the previous season, a deadly virus that only affects vampires ("Hepatitis V") is released and threatens the entire vampire community including the regular cast. In the final season, the company that produces TruBlood (the artificial blood beverage that allows vampires to subsist without preying on humans) develops a cure for Hep V, but their corrupt CEO realizes he can make more money by selling a temporary vaccine through TruBlood. When Eric kills him and takes over the company, it's unknown if he keeps up the charade or releases the real cure. Given his rather complicated morality, it can go either way.
 Withholding the Cure / int_dc4363c5
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_dc4363c5
featureConfidence
1.0
 True Blood
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_dc4363c5
 Withholding the Cure / int_e3122c8d
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_e3122c8d
comment
Dead Rising:
In Dead Rising 2, Zombie Infectees can indefinitely delay their transformation into zombies via daily doses of Zombrex. There are accusations that the Evil Drug Company that makes the drug is working to prevent a cure from being discovered for economic and political power. They're actually causing bi-yearly outbreaks to ensure a steady supply of the parasitic wasps used to make the drug — this also causes the uninfected to stockpile the drug, driving up their stock price. Cue gunfight.
In Dead Rising 2: Case West, Big Bad Evil Cripple Marian Mallon — who proudly displays a giant zombie bite on her cheek — implies that the accusations are true, and they are suppressing the cure in favor of distributing Zombrex for money and For the Evulz. Villains Never Lie, but can you say Sequel Hook?
Dead Rising 3 confirms that there is a cure, but Mallon didn't own it. However, she triggered an outbreak in the city the cure was in so that the military separatists she was working with could keep the cure to themselves. Their Evil Plan was to take over America with a combination of brute military force and mass-infections, forcing the survivors to kneel to the traitors or die to the virus (or their guns).
 Withholding the Cure / int_e3122c8d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_e3122c8d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dead Rising (Franchise)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_e3122c8d
 Withholding the Cure / int_ea4f62db
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_ea4f62db
comment
The Family Guy epsiode "The Old Man and the Big 'C'" reveals that Carter Pewterschmidt discovered a Cure for Cancer in the 1990s but is keeping it to himself purely because treating a cancer patient for the rest of their lives will earn far more profit than curing them with a single treatment. When Brian and Stewie expose this secret, Lois makes Carter give his word to release the cure. He immediately goes back on his word and flat-out admits he lied to Lois's face when she calls him out on it.
 Withholding the Cure / int_ea4f62db
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_ea4f62db
featureConfidence
1.0
 Family Guy
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_ea4f62db
 Withholding the Cure / int_eb2a8ea9
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_eb2a8ea9
comment
In Crackdown 2, the Agency is secretly withholding the cure to the Freak virus and Catalina Thorne is trying to pressure them to release it. However, the Agency refuses to release it because it would depower their Agents.
 Withholding the Cure / int_eb2a8ea9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_eb2a8ea9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Crackdown (Video Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_eb2a8ea9
 Withholding the Cure / int_ee04f49a
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_ee04f49a
comment
Deus Ex Universe:
This is one of many conspiracies present in Deus Ex — the people who control the treatment also created the plague.
The prequel, Human Revolution has an variation. The company VersaLife, the same front company who distributed the vaccine to Grey Death in the original, makes Neuropozyne, a drug that prevents the human body rejecting mechanical augmentations. It is the only drug known to do this, meaning it is necessary to most augmented people and as a result had made the company a lot of money. The company is controlled by the Illuminati, who use the drug as a measure of control. Sarif Industries have discovered an implantable material based on the biology of the protagonist, Adam Jensen, that may render Neuropozyne obsolete, so the Illuminati have the research labs destroyed and scientists involved kidnapped to prevent their control being challenged. These actions kick start the events of the game. By the end, it is revealed that one of the scientists involved also works on the Grey Death from the original.
 Withholding the Cure / int_ee04f49a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_ee04f49a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Deus Ex Universe (Franchise)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_ee04f49a
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef076a36
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef076a36
comment
Star Trek: Voyager: In "Night", the Malons' hat is looking for a Landfill Beyond the Stars to dump radioactive antimatter waste from inferior warp technology. The current captain's dumping ground is inhabited so the crew look for a better way: Federation warp technology, which recycles its theta radiation. He rejects this as it would put him out of business. Chakotay points out that he's throwing away a great business opportunity, but he counters that he is already making lots of money thanks to his secret dumping ground, and would rather bet on what he has, than risk the financial chaos caused by the introduction of a world-changing technology. They never try this tactic with any other Malon captain, presumably assuming they would reject it for the same reason.
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef076a36
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef076a36
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Voyager
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_ef076a36
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef7b3325
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef7b3325
comment
On a lighter note, when Reed Richards of Fantastic Four was messing around with calculations one day, he stumbled on a permanent cure for acne. Revlon and a dozen other companies are paying him dumptrucks full of money not to release it.
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef7b3325
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_ef7b3325
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fantastic Four / Comicbook
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_ef7b3325
 Withholding the Cure / int_f3e1f424
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_f3e1f424
comment
Merlin (2008): Uther does this when Merlin is poisoned, intent on teaching Arthur a lesson.
 Withholding the Cure / int_f3e1f424
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_f3e1f424
featureConfidence
1.0
 Merlin (2008)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_f3e1f424
 Withholding the Cure / int_fb9fefa6
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_fb9fefa6
comment
In Hc Svnt Dracones, a division of Spyglass known as Progenitus discovered that the pharmaceutical corporations of the time had been suppressing cheap cures for practically everything in order to sell expensive treatments. They went public and started producing the cures themselves. Four centuries later, Progenitus is the one and only medical MegaCorp in the solar system, guaranteeing Perfect Health for a low monthly fee, no differently from a cell service.
 Withholding the Cure / int_fb9fefa6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_fb9fefa6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Hc Svnt Dracones (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_fb9fefa6
 Withholding the Cure / int_ff9ab17f
type
Withholding the Cure
 Withholding the Cure / int_ff9ab17f
comment
Played with in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Symbiosis": the Ornarans claim they need felicium to treat a plague that is affecting their world. Their only source of it is through the Brekkians, and this is the only commerce between the worlds. Dr. Crusher determines that the felicium is an addictive narcotic and that the plague has long been cured. While the Prime Directive forbids Picard from revealing the truth to the wronged race, he finds a way to correct the situation by refusing to repair their few remaining ships. Without the ships, they will have no way to get the drug and will eventually realize they're not actually sick.
 Withholding the Cure / int_ff9ab17f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Withholding the Cure / int_ff9ab17f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: The Next Generation
hasFeature
Withholding the Cure / int_ff9ab17f

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Withholding the Cure
processingCategory2
Dirty Social Tricks
 Withholding the Cure
processingCategory2
Healing and Curing Tropes
 Withholding the Cure
processingCategory2
Plots
 Withholding the Cure
processingCategory2
Sociology Tropes
 Withholding the Cure
processingCategory2
The Index Is Watching You
 Withholding the Cure
processingCategory2
Toxic Tropes
 Doctor Strange: The Oath (Comic Book) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Wild CATS (Comic Book) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Wild C.A.T.s (WildStorm) (Comic Book) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Contagion (2011) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Johnny Mnemonic / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Mission: Impossible II / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Ultraviolet (2006) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Keeper of the Lost Cities / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Nursery Crime / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 The Autumn Queen Protocol / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 The Destroyer / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 The Great Cleric / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 The Lunar Chronicles / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 BrianKVaughan
seeAlso
Withholding the Cure
 Continuum / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Orphan Black / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 The Americans / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 V (1983) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Hc Svnt Dracones (Tabletop Game) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Batman: Arkham City (Video Game) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Batman: Arkham Knight (Video Game) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Goddess of Victory: NIKKE (Video Game) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Sanitarium (Video Game) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (Video Game) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten / Videogame / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Black Wolves Saga (Visual Novel) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Solid jj (Web Video) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 I'm the Grim Reaper (Webcomic) / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure
 Superman: Doomsday / int_29fb4ade
type
Withholding the Cure