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1. Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think: (thatguyoverthere@shitposter.club)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Sep-2023 19:05:41 JST Disinformation Purveyor :verified_think:

   in reply to

   • Kermode
   @gemlog criminals get tb tests for free in America
   • Kermode (gemlog@tilde.zone)'s status on Wednesday, 20-Sep-2023 19:05:42 JST Kermode

     Every 20 seconds, someone dies of tuberculosis.

     It has remained the world's deadliest infectious disease since the Black Death; the only exceptions being in 2020 and 2021, when it took second place after COVID-19.
     TB tends to strike the most vulnerable, including young children and the immunocompromised. People in poor living conditions or with little access to health care
     But diagnosing TB is a challenge.
     Danaher holds a virtual monopoly through its subsidiary Cepheid.
     Since GeneXpert went to market in 2006, it has been sold under what Danaher CEO Rainer Blair publicly described as the "razor-blade" model.
     Many low-income countries got them years ago, when sales were subsidized by public funding, says Mitnick.
     But that locks them into the GeneXpert system and forces them to buy the company's single-use TB test cartridges, which have been sold at a high markup for over a decade.
     Now Danaher says they will drop the price 20% overall and sell to poor countries at cost - but their idea of cost is nearly double 3rd party estimates.
     The same machine also diagnoses "HIV, hepatitis, COVID-19, Ebola and a host of other diseases".
     It was developed with $250 million of USA/Canadian tax payer money. Danaher has profits of $7 Billion a year.
     Those points are excerpts, do read the whole article:
     https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tb-tests-danaher-price-drop-1.6964582?cmp=rss