Towards TB free world. Now, it’s time to end TB
03/02/2020
Affordable TB tests to reach the missing millions! “TB-LAMP becomes first molecular test to meet WHO pricing targets for a replacement for smear microscopy test.”
Wiesbaden, Germany and Tokyo Japan – 12 February 2020 –Human Diagnostics Worldwide (HUMAN) and EIKEN CHEMICAL CO., LTD. (Eiken) – Making reliable TB testing affordable for everyone in the world. This is the goal of HUMAN and Eiken and the reason why the price for TB-LAMP is adjusted to $6 per patient (5,45$/test).
As of March 24, 2020, on the World TB Day, the price for TB-LAMP in the catalogue of the Global Drug Facility (GDF) will be 6 $ per patient and therefore 2,60 $ less than before.
The new pricing policy comes exactly at the right time as this Global Fund (GF) funding cycle is currently coming to an end in many countries. It allows countries to include more molecular tests e.g. as replacement for smear microscopy in their budget of the upcoming GF applications and will help to identify more undetected TB cases.
This price adjustment not only supports the common goal in the fight against TB, it also reflects the commitment of HUMAN and Eiken to Global Health, corresponding the political declaration of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the fight against tuberculosis in 2018 and customer satisfaction.
TB Diagnosis
The fight against tuberculosis remains a major global challenge. The most common method is still smear microscopy, which is mainly due to its low price. However, it is known that smear microscopy has a low sensitivity and therefore many patients remain undetected. Molecular methods, on the other hand, are often expensive and dependent on the method can`t be used in remote areas. Therefore, the full potential of molecular tests has been neither exploited nor implemented yet.
About TB-LAMP
The TB-LAMP solution, developed by HUMAN´s partner Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd., is a molecular method for the detection of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex. Its robustness, high sensitivity and ease of use makes LAMP an excellent and nearly failsafe solution to improve TB diagnostics in remote areas. Moreover, this system offers a higher throughput of samples in shorter time than existing technologies (1-2 hrs for 14 samples, up to 70 samples/day/equipment). In 2016, WHO* recommended that smear microscopy may be replaced by TB-LAMP. TB-LAMP is also included in the Global Drug Facility (GDF) catalog (http://stoptb.org/gdf/drugsupply/drugs_available.asp) and in the list of WHO recommended diagnostic tool 2018.
For more information about TB-LAMP, please visit www.human.de/lamp.
About GDF
The Global Drug Facility (GDF) is a key mechanism of the Stop TB Partnership that offers nations a full range of high quality drugs and diagnostic tools at reasonable prices. This is leading the way to a world without tuberculosis, a disease that is curable but still kills three people every minute.
* http://www.stoptb.org/resources/cd/UGA_Dashboard.html
** https://www.who.int/tb/laboratory/srln_factsheet.pdf?ua=1
About EIKEN
EIKEN CHEMICAL CO., LTD. was established in 1939 and was the first Japanese company to successfully commercialize the manufacture of powdered culture media for microbiological investigations. The company has established itself as a leader in the clinical diagnostics market, and has a strong commitment to research and development toward global products and technologies that fulfill needs at the cutting edge of contemporary medicine. The LAMP technology, developed at EIKEN in 1998, is now a core technology being exploited to develop a range of products. For more information, please visit www.eiken.co.jp/en/
About HUMAN
HUMAN, founded in 1972, is a Germany based privately owned company which develops, manufactures and distributes a wide range of IVD Diagnostics and laboratory equipment. The comprehensive portfolio of more than 400 products covers almost all areas of modern laboratory including Autoimmune and Molecular Diagnostics. With its strong network of partners in 160 countries and with six regional offices around the globe, HUMAN maintains probably the broadest distribution and service network, especially in developing and emerging countries. For more information, please visit www.human.de
Note: The price of 5,45 $/test is valid for orders via GDF. For all other orders the current price frame remains unchanged.
Media contacts
EIKEN: Public Relations Department
HUMAN: Gabriele Ackermann, Marketing Communications
T: +49 6122-9988-125
[email protected]
