12 February 2018 - Geneva, Switzerland - The Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility (GDF) is setting new trends in the procurement of quality-assured TB diagnostics, offering countries a one-stop shop in the fight to end TB.
Last year, GDF was the market leader with 41% (4.6 million) share of the Xpert MTB/RIF cartridges acquired globally by the public sector under concessional pricing - cartridges that allow TB and rifampicin resistance to be simultaneously detected from patient specimens in less than two hours. The test is recommended by the World Health Organization as the initial diagnostic test for all people with signs or symptoms of TB, as a replacement for microscopy.
GDF played an even more striking role in supporting the Indian government to scale up access to rapid molecular tests. The team, working closely with colleagues from the TB programme and the Global Fund, procured 97% of India’s 2.5 million cartridges in 2017, as well as 507 new GeneXperts that GDF delivered directly to 507 sites across the country. GeneXpert machines utilize the Xpert MTB/RIF cartridges to test for TB and resistance.
With a diagnostics catalogue of more than 600 items, GDF caters to the needs of all levels of TB laboratories, from peripheral health centers utilizing microscopes and GeneXperts, to reference laboratories performing culture and drug susceptibility testing techniques that require high biosafety precautions. Furthermore, Stop TB’s procurement arm continues to have the lowest fees of any international procurement organization, allowing countries to avoid steep price mark-ups that may be applied by in-country distributors.
Established in 2001, GDF works to facilitate worldwide, equitable access to high-quality TB medicines and diagnostics across both the public and private sectors. Its broad range of quality-assured products provides countries with a convenient and comprehensive platform to access the latest innovations to control TB.
As the largest supplier of TB commodities, GDF also plays a key function as a market coordinator to improve supply security and the affordability of quality-assured TB medicines and diagnostics. In addition, the team provides technical assistance to countries and supports national TB programmes in managing procurement. The most recent roundup of GDF’s technical assistance missions can be found here.
For more information about GDF’s diagnostics portfolio, please contact gdf@stoptb.org.