Health Groups Urge Cepheid and Danaher to Lower Price of Mpox Tests for African Countries
Washington D.C. — Dozens of health groups are urging molecular testing company, Cepheid, and its parent company, Danaher, to lower the price of its mpox diagnostic test, GeneXpert, from $20 to $5 per test for supply to African countries including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicenter of the mpox emergency.
The DRC, one of the world’s poorest nations, spends just $22 per person on health care annually — nearly the same cost as a single $20 GeneXpert test. Cepheid and Danaher’s pricing curbs critical access to diagnostics; currently, DRC tests only 40 to 50 percent of suspected cases. Estimated production costs show each GeneXpert test could be sold at a profit for $5, but Cepheid and Danaher have refused to lower all test prices or publish the results of a promised audit of GeneXpert test costs.
Public Citizen Access to Medicines Director Peter Maybarduk said there’s no reason for Cepheid and Danaher to charge $20 per mpox test for low- to middle-income countries.
“Cepheid and Danaher’s test prices totally disregard patient care,” said Maybarduk. “African countries are struggling to manage multiple mpox outbreaks while Cepheid and Danaher price gouge. Cepheid and Danaher must lower the price of GeneXpert tests and prioritize supply to the DRC and other African countries now. It’s time for $5.”
Cepheid and Danaher lowered the price of the standard GeneXpert TB test last year, following years of public pressure and mobilization through the Time for $5 campaign, led by the MSF Access Campaign and partners including author John Green.
Diagnostics Advisor at MSF’s Access Campaign Stijn Deborggraeve noted the public is also urging Cepheid and Danaher to act.
“It is outrageous that Cepheid and Danaher charge the poorest countries a price 4 times higher than what it costs them to make the mpox test,” said Deborggraeve. “More than 200,000 people have signed a petition organized by the Time for $5 Campaign requesting the corporations drop the price of all GeneXpert cartridges to $5, including for mpox, so that countries can scale up life-saving testing. We urge the companies to put people over profits.”