GeneXpert diagnostic tests have simplified testing for diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), HIV and hepatitis C, but people in low- and middle-income countries struggle to access these tests due to their high prices. The Time for $5 Campaign is a global campaigning and advocacy effort calling on the test manufacturer, Cepheid, and their parent corporation, Danaher, to reduce the price of all GeneXpert tests to $5 per test.

In September 2023, under unprecedented public pressure from the Time for $5 Campaign and TB activists, Danaher announced a 20% reduction in the price of the standard TB test, bringing it down from $9.98 to $7.97 per test. Danaher also committed to an annual third-party assessment of the cost of GeneXpert tests – an important opportunity to demonstrate transparent and rational pricing. However, almost one year since this announcement, no information has been made available by Danaher or Cepheid about how the audit will be conducted and by whom.

A technical brief, co-published by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Access Campaign, Treatment Action Group and Partners In Health, makes recommendations to the test makers, as well as global health actors and governments, to ensure the audit is conducted in a timely, rigorous and transparent manner in order to help expand access to lifesaving testing.

Access the technical brief here.