FIND prices for BACTEC and MGIT and Country List

Enhancement of diagnostic capacity for TB and MDR-TB is urgently needed to scale-up access to care and treatment of MDR-TB. To help meet this challenge, FIND has collaborated in the development and evaluation of new TB diagnostic tools, including TB liquid culture and DST, rapid species identification, and line probe assay. WHO has officially endorsed the use of these technologies based on the thorough evaluation of the evidence of their effectiveness under actual program conditions. As part of its role in the development and evaluation process of these tools, FIND has successfully negotiated with three of the manufacturing partners to obtain significant price reductions in order to facilitate access to these diagnostic technologies. These discounts average 50% on diagnostic instruments, and 75% on reagents, and are available to high TB burden countries that wish to procure TB diagnostics for use in the public and non-profit health care sectors, and who procure these tools with funding from the government, UNITAID, or the Global Fund. Furthermore, the FIND-negotiated agreements contain provisions for further discounts as procurement volumes of reagents increase. As these become available FIND shall communicate the new prices to the TB community. In the case of the BBL MGIT Tubes List Nr. 245122 below, it is expected that price shall be reduced in the second quarter of 2009.

Current FIND-negotiated prices, along with the list of countries eligible for the discounts, as negotiated by FIND with BD are listed below:
 

These prices are FOB at the manufacturer loading bay. Additional costs beyond the FOB cost may include one or more of the following:

Fully landed

Additional transport and shipping (international and local costs), insurance, clearing, customs duties and local taxes, where applicable

Implementation

Where required from the local BD representative (the local company representative can give precise details);

• Training costs
• Costs of service contracts for the BACTEC™ MGIT™ 960 System (estimated usually at 10-15% of the FOB price). The System comes with a 1 year warranty so a service contract should be calculated for year 2 onwards

Infrastructure

• Laboratory renovation
• Biosafety-related upgrades, such as negative pressure facilities and/or biosafety cabinets
• Electrical supply, possibly including a backup generator

In addition to these costs, supplementary investment that is related more generally to establishing fully functional TB laboratory networks should be considered, including:

• Specimen transport costs
• Other essential supplies (gloves, respirators, lab gowns and lab coats)
• Other needed equipment (refrigerated safety centrifuges, freezers, pipettes, etc.)
• Costs related to Quality Assurance
• Laboratory management information system-related costs (LMIS), for inventory management; recording and reporting results.

The following costs should also be taken into consideration when developing budgets and work plans (see Figure 1). Guidance is available through the Global Laboratory Initiative and WHO for these areas.
 

Countries* for which FIND-negotiated prices are available today

* Additions to this country list can be addressed on a case-by-case basis by FIND with the manufacturing partners.