Letter to Danaher and Cepheid: Lower Mpox Test Price

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(Read more about access and the mpox response).

 

Mr. Rainer M. Blair
President and Chief Executive Officer of Danaher
2200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 800W
Washington, DC 20037

Mr. Vitor Rocha
President of Cepheid
904 Caribbean Drive
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Dear Mr. Blair and Mr. Rocha,

Multiple countries in Africa are grappling with concurrent mpox outbreaks. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is bearing the brunt of the outbreaks, while also facing inadequate access to mpox diagnostics. Many of the affected countries are almost exclusively dependent on GeneXpert for near point-of-care molecular testing of mpox, given the large investments of the countries and donors and high number of machines installed for TB testing.

Out of concern for the lack of timely and affordable access to Cepheid’s GeneXpert mpox test, we urge you to lower the price of the mpox test cartridges to $5 and ensure supply is prioritized for African countries fighting mpox outbreaks.

In the DRC, only 40–50% of suspected cases are tested.^[1] Limited testing capacity contributes to delayed diagnosis which impedes case tracking and appropriate patient care.^[2] As one of the only near point-of-care testing options for mpox in affected countries, the GeneXpert test is critically important to decentralize testing and accelerate case confirmation efforts. However, at around $20 per test, the GeneXpert mpox test’s high cost limits testing scale up.^[3]

Last year, in response to activist concerns, you announced a price reduction for one of your TB tests to $7.97 per test. Following this reduction, advocates have called on Cepheid and Danaher to drop the price of all GeneXpert tests supplied to low- and middle-income countries to $5, based on evidence that the tests can be produced for less than $5.^[4] Meanwhile, the GeneXpert mpox test price remains over four times higher than what it costs to produce.

This is shocking considering low-resource countries most suited to benefit from GeneXpert tests may not be able to access them due to the exorbitant cost. We urge you to remedy this by immediately lowering your test prices.

Additionally, we urge you to publish the results of your promised audit of production costs to demonstrate a commitment to transparency and rational pricing across diseases, including mpox.^[5]

We look forward to your response to this letter by November 20, 2024 detailing actions to urgently make mpox tests affordable and available to the people who most need them.

Sincerely,

Public Citizen

MSF Access Campaign

AIDS Healthcare Foundation

American Friends Service Committee

Associação Nivenyee

AVAC

Cancer Alliance

Catholic Medical Mission Board, Inc.

Christian Women Rock

Clinton Health Access Initiative, Tanzania

CSO TB Network

FOCUS 1000

Fundación IFARMA

Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN)

Global Humanitarian Progress GHP Corp.

Global Network of PLWH (GNP +)

Health Global Access Project

Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)

International Community of Women living with HIV  Kenya 

Jamaica Community of Positive Women /ICW

KP Consortium of Kenya

Maryknoll Sisters

Misión Salud

NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Pandemic Action Network

People’s Medicines Alliance 

Positive Malaysian Treatment Access & Advocacy Group (MTAAG+)

PrEP4All

Regional Training Centre, Medical Device Adverse Event, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh 202002 (UP), India

Réseau National des Associations de lutte contre la tuberculose au Sénégal

Salud por Derecho

Salud y Farmacos

Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust 

Spark Street Advisors

Tanzania National Network of People with HIV and AIDS (TANEPHA)

Treatment Action Group

Unitaid Advocates Network

Wote Youth Development Projects CBO

 

^[1]  https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing—1-november-2024
^[2]  https://www.afro.who.int/countries/democratic-republic-of-congo/news/decentralizing-testing-rapid-mpox-detection-democratic-republic-congo
^[3]  https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/health-topics/monkeypox/jmo_who_sprp-mpox_2024_final_digital.pdf?sfvrsn=3a670f76_1&download=true, at 12.
^[4] https://msfaccess.org/time-for-5-brief
^[5] https://msfaccess.org/hidden-costs-genexpert-tests-and-danahers-delayed-audit