We cannot control this epidemic until people everywhere have access to testing and treatment
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Friend,
Tuberculosis (TB) is the world’s deadliest infectious disease, despite the fact that it is preventable and treatable. Limited access to suitable and affordable diagnostic tests makes it difficult to control this global epidemic.
For the past three decades, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has made incredible strides developing new tools and treatments to address this devastating disease, including implementing a shorter, safer, and more effective regimen to treat drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) that is now recommended as the global standard.
Our latest effort in this ongoing fight is to make testing more accessible for all TB patients—regardless of their ability to pay. That’s why we’re demanding that US-based diagnostics company Cepheid and its parent company Danaher drop the price of all of its diagnostic tests to no more than $5 each to ensure it is accessible for all. Access to diagnostic testing ensures that people with TB can be diagnosed in time to receive the shorter and safer treatment regimens.
It costs Cepheid less than $5 to produce one test, but they have kept the price of the test at $9.98 for over a decade. Cepheid must lower the price of the test to no more than $5 to ensure we can identify more people who need treatment and save more lives. People should have access to lifesaving TB care no matter who they are or where they live.
This epidemic will not be over until everyone has access to affordable diagnostic tests so more lives can be saved. Thank you for speaking up.
Dr. Carrie Teicher
Director of Programs
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières USA
P.S. Interested in learning more about why people are still dying from a curable disease? Join our live event on Tuesday, September 19 to hear directly from TB patients about why reducing the price and expanding access to Johnson & Johnson’s TB medicine bedaquiline and Cepheid’s GeneXpert TB test are vital to save more lives worldwide. RSVP >>
This email was sent from the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international independent medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural and man-made disasters, and exclusion from health care.
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