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John asks viewers to press Danaher and Cepheid to cut GeneXpert TB test cartridges to $5 (2023)

ask · status: reported back · last event: result reported (2025-09-30) · owner: John and Hank

In September 2023 John asked viewers to press Danaher and its subsidiary Cepheid to cut the price of GeneXpert tuberculosis test cartridges to $5. Within a week the standard cartridge fell from $10 to $7.97 with a pledge of no profit in poor countries; the drug-resistant cartridge stayed unchanged, and the brothers kept counting the outcome among the community's greatest accomplishments.

Told alongside: John asks viewers to pressure Johnson & Johnson to drop its secondary bedaquiline patent (2023) · John asks Danaher to release its promised independent audit of TB test costs by October 14 (2024) · John: Danaher and Cepheid will eventually respond to the TB test campaign because it will keep escalating (2023) · John: $5 GeneXpert TB tests would likely save hundreds of thousands of lives over 10 years (2023) · John (with Hank): amplify viewers' messages to Danaher on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Threads (2023)

About: Danaher Corporation, Cepheid, GeneXpert, TBFighters, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, United States Agency for International Development, Stop TB Partnership

date event what video
2023-09-12 result reported An update in the description and John's comment says that thanks to tbfighters.org and partners, Danaher agreed to make no profit on standard TB cartridges, in a deal brokered by the Global Fund, USAID and the Stop TB Partnership. Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid creator comment
2023-09-12 asked John says Danaher, a company most have never heard of, could save hundreds of thousands of lives over the next 10 years, and wants everyone to encourage it to do so. Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid 00:00:13
2023-09-12 reminder John asks viewers to spend five minutes calling or emailing via the linked contacts and to tell Danaher on social media they won't accept this injustice. Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid 00:06:24
2023-09-14 reminder John asks viewers inspired by the conversation to contact Danaher, tag it on social media and phone it, politely, since whoever answers is not the decision-maker. Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:37:33
2023-09-14 result reported John says 1,148 people are watching; Nerdfighteria has researched a list of Danaher's investors and is contacting some of them, with more on its Discord at nerdfighteria.com. Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:41:57
2023-09-14 thanks John thanks viewers, including one who reached a person at Cepheid's number within two minutes, for keeping up the pressure on Danaher. Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES 00:58:13
2023-09-15 reminder The description asks viewers to check out TBFighters.org to help get the TB test price down to $5. The Worst Disease in Human History video description
2023-09-19 result reported John reports that USAID, the Global Fund and the Stop TB Partnership announced Danaher's standard TB cartridge will fall from $10 to $7.97, at no profit in poor countries. → refers to Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid So, um.... GOOD NEWS?!?!?! 00:00:00
2023-09-19 reminder John says the community should keep advocating for lower-cost diagnostics, especially XDR-TB cartridges, but politely and respectfully. So, um.... GOOD NEWS?!?!?! 00:03:55
2023-09-22 result reported Hank tells John the last couple of weeks were a new sensation: the community affected the world so much, so quickly, that it is disorienting. A Feeling I've Never Felt Before 00:02:25
2023-09-25 result reported John says he doesn't know how to change the vibe from the community lowering the price of life-saving tuberculosis tests to Pizzamas. PIZZAMAS IS HERE!!! 00:00:07
2023-09-29 result reported John says his 2007 self had no idea what it was like to have kids, to live in one town for 17 years, or to be part of an online community that convinced a multinational not to profit from TB tests in poor countries. Like Apocalyptic Horsemen 00:03:33
2023-09-30 result reported After a string of such victories, John stresses how wildly uncommon it is for a pharmaceutical or diagnostics company to lower prices under pressure; these are massive wins. An Incredible Update 00:02:26
2023-10-17 result reported In the last year Nerdfighteria has helped make hundreds of millions of dollars of impact in the cost of TB tests and treatment. My Next Book 00:01:27
2023-11-21 result reported John says the community helped encourage Danaher to lower the price of its tuberculosis tests, which will let 5 million more people be tested for TB every year. Minus Its Charms 00:00:16
2023-12-19 reminder The description points viewers to TB Fighters' work and asks them to join its Discord, telling Danaher it's time for five. End of a Rough Year creator comment
2023-12-19 result reported John says Danaher and Cepheid lowered the price of their standard TB test cartridge and pledged no profit on it in low- and middle-income countries, but have not lowered the price of the drug-resistant TB cartridge. End of a Rough Year 00:02:55
2024-01-16 result reported TB fighters in the community pressured Danaher to lower the price of its tuberculosis tests; the effort is ongoing but has already cut the standard test's price and won a pledge not to profit from it in impoverished communities. The Bank of Nerdfighteria 00:03:44
2024-02-16 result reported Hank says the community's biggest economic impact is probably pushing Danaher to lower the cost of its TB test, which took not money but time and attention. (hedged) How Much Does it Cost to be a Nerdfighter 00:02:55
2024-03-12 reminder John says today there are accurate but still frustratingly expensive tests like GeneXpert that can tell within a couple of hours whether someone has TB. How We End TB 00:01:56
2024-03-26 result reported John says the community recently helped pressure Danaher to lower the price of its standard TB test cartridge, letting literally millions more people a year access high-quality testing. I Own Danaher 00:00:00
2024-03-26 reminder John asks viewers to sign the petition linked below and keep asking Danaher to lower its prices; this shareholder would appreciate it. I Own Danaher 00:04:52
2024-06-18 result reported John has seen the community's power in reducing maternal mortality in Sierra Leone and driving down TB drug and test prices: never underestimate Nerdfighteria. The Tea 00:05:45
2024-09-10 result reported Chest x-rays and molecular tests cheaper than ever, thanks to Nerdfighteria's hard work, let them find cases much sooner, treat effectively and offer preventive therapy. The world will change. 00:02:55
2024-09-27 (happened 2023-09) result reported John says it has been almost exactly a year since Nerdfighteria helped convince Danaher to lower its TB test prices, one of the community's most amazing accomplishments. Is It 2010? IT'S A PARTS VIDEO 00:03:05
2024-10-25 result reported Hank says the community helped make standard TB cartridges 20% cheaper, which is amazing. I Don't Want them to Get Away With It… 00:04:23
2025-09-30 result reported Hank adds activism (wording unclear) that has forced companies to lower the prices of tuberculosis tests and medications. WHO ARE WE AND WHAT ARE WE DOING 00:03:59

What is said about it

36 statements, by date (the events above are the turns of the thread; these are the details).