Global health, “Treatment is not a luxury”: Doctors Without Borders launches the petition to lower the price of tests for tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis and Ebola to $5

ROMA – The medical humanitarian organization, Nobel Prize winner, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), together with 150 other organizations, launches the pglobal issue “Lower the price to $5” to ask the multinationals Danaher and Cepheid to lower to $5 the price of their GeneXpert diagnostic tests for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, HIV, hepatitis and Ebola in low- and middle-income countries, as a critical first step in accessing life-saving treatment. Even in Italy you can sign the petition on www.msf.it/abbassailprezzo

The two pharmaceutical companies received $252 million in public money. “Danaher and Cepheid have received at least $252 million in public funding to develop these tests but continue to charge exorbitant prices that prevent millions of people in low- and middle-income countries from receiving a life-saving diagnosis and treatment,” says Hanna Darroll , head of MSF’s Global Health Campaign.

If the test cost $5 they would still make a profit. According to a study conducted by MSF In 2019, manufacturing costs for GeneXpert tests would be between $3 and $4.60, and if Cepheid and Danaher charged $5 per test they would still make a profit, instead of charging up to three or even four times as much. in countries with the highest poverty rates in the world.

In response to pressure from activists around the world for access to tuberculosis treatment in September 2023, Danaher announced it would lower the price of the test used to diagnose TB from $10 to $8, an important first step. . The multinational had also announced that it wanted to establish the actual cost of production annually by a third internationally accredited body and would adjust its prices, but no information is yet available on this matter.

32 million would be saved. According to the Global Fund, the price reduction is expected to result in annual savings of $32 million, enabling the purchase of an additional 3.6 million tests each year. As a result, more people with tuberculosis would receive timely diagnosis and treatment and more lives could be saved. But Cepheid and Danaher continue to charge between $15 and $20 for the same type of test used to diagnose the deadliest form of tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis ($15), HIV ($15), hepatitis ($15), sexually transmitted diseases ($16-19) and Ebola ($20). These prices are 200% to 400% higher than the estimated $5 it would cost Cepheid and Danaher to run a test.

This is a fundamental test. GeneXpert is a critically important test used to diagnose diseases where people live and where there is often no laboratory. In particular, it is used to diagnose HIV in newborns exposed to the virus, to diagnose hepatitis C virus, and for multiple sexually transmitted diseases and Ebola. For tuberculosis and its drug-resistant forms, GeneXpert has been particularly innovative, although too few people still have access to it.

Tuberculosis causes the most deaths in the world. Despite being a preventable and treatable disease, Tuberculosis (TB) remains the infectious disease that causes the most deaths in the world, with approximately 10.6 million new cases and 1.3 million deaths in 2022. Among people affected by?TB resistant to drugs? only two out of five are diagnosed and started on treatment.