Aid bodies ink deal to cut new TB test cost by half

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and three other aid organisations announced an agreement that will bring down the cost of a highly accurate, rapid diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) in 145 developing countries by 40%.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and three other aid organisations announced an agreement that will bring down the cost of a highly accurate, rapid diagnostic test for tuberculosis (TB) in 145 developing countries by 40%.

They have signed a deal with US-based medical device manufacturer Cepheid Inc to make GeneXpert — a tuberculosis diagnostic kit that provides a two-hour rapid diagnosis of TB, TB/HIV co-infection and drug-resistant TB — available at reduced prices. The agreement will immediately see the test sold for $9.98, down from its current price of $16.86 per test.

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Other than the Gates Foundation, the company entered into deals with the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UNITAID, a group that facilitates the purchase of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis drugs.

Cepheid’s GeneXpert is a molecular diagnostic system that can detect TB disease in patients co-infected with HIV and resistance to the antibiotic rifampicin — a widely accepted indicator of the presence of multi-drug resistant TB — in less than two hours. The system also can be used outside of conventional laboratories.