The flipside of that is the response to the AIDS crisis. If it hadn't been for activists from groups like ACT-UP and Queer Nation screaming, shouting and making a big stink about the need for a response from the FDA, the federal government more generally, and the pharmaceutical industry, there'd be a whole lot of people who wouldn't be alive today.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/09/27/how-to-survive-a-plagu...
https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/ray-filar/silen...