Lemme try and answer your related Qs - you can't measure the Unitaid supply deal only by the $/cost within this deal.
You need to think of several interconnected biz aspects that directly connect with AT1's origins, investor mandates, economics of scaling up, building brand awareness , keeping the core factory running/supppling stock + helping its biz growth strategy for more profitable test lines and geos
Economic benefits - AT1 HIV biz would not have gone through its dev period + manufacturing scale-up level (now with a fully built, wholly owned, debt free, WHO audited factory + dedicated supply chain) without prior investors like Global Fund (+ other private investors knowing the plan). There are significant economic benefits in getting interest free funding via a Global Fund grants/investment = being able to provide return value in supplying tests + medicines for LMIC countries needs.....or for any country where "X" is a desperate medical need, at a lower cost with the same high quality and from a dependable supplier.
- AT1's HIV factory is currently able to supply several million HIV tests annually, not just for LMIC countries at cost, but to every country where HIV market exists. eg: it retails the exact same HIV test being supplied to LMIC countries for $4/$2 (cost price) for AUD$25 (Australia) and £28.95 (UK&I; AU$51.86) with a 60% avg profit margin for every non-LMIC country test sold. I am sure you already understand economic benefits of scaling-up..the more tests that are ordered, for anywhere, the cheaper the production costs become over time, which keeps the overall profit margin high...because of the retail $ difference above..
- AT1's HIV self-test + the current ann is a successful global ad for its core integrated device platform design, ease of use, ability to scale whilst still keeping manufacturing costs low etc. Now connect this to its biz potential for OEM dev biz, to future test developers wanting to partner with AT1 for developing proprietary tests, more expensive/higher margin markets (whilst HIV channel continues also to be profitable in non-LMIC countries)
- If you review above docs on Unitaid strategy + working relationship with Global Fund, below statements will make sense + you can see the long term strategic value for AT1's HIV biz
"Unitaid ensures that innovative ideas come to fruition in the real world and in doing so, helps innovators to address the needs of underserved populations".
Global Fund is one of its core upstream partners that enables WHO grants/investments are made in the needed innovative ideas, enable them to become reality + scale-up in the real world...in return for the lower cost + innovative, integrated healthcare solutions for those most in need.
Strategic benefits: - there are several but let me highlight just a single big one. AT1's HIV test, which has the same core integrated device design, is intended for home/consumer purchase due to its ease of use...its designed to work without professionals ...and for successful brand presence + sales anywhere, AT1 needs countries to have consumer self-test policies, allow home healthcare, telehealth options, gov subsidies like Medicare coverage etc. Health bodies like WHO/GF/Unitaid etc...they are the ones pushing govs to enable these consumer self-test policies + remove medical policy roadblocks (eg: HIV consumer self-test mandate has been agreed by 140+ WHO member countries...70+ so far have enabled HIV self-test brands to be sold in their markets since 2017 now)....all of which directly enable AT1's core self-test design to enter, sell existing self-tests like HIV + partner to develop more (like FebriDx, HCV etc in the pipeline).
Brand awareness + good optics (since AT1 wants to be a global test developer, proprietary test retailer + OEM manufacturer). One can see how such WHO/GF/Unitaid partnerships, supply agreement news etc will continue to be spread AT1 brand awareness (currently + in future deals)..and the media optics look v good too in supplying poorer countries at cost.
Anytime AT1 announces a further partner supply deal, this Unitaid deal will also be mentioned...'that's the same small AU diagnostics company supplying WHO org' etc...brand awareness/free advertising in 135+ countries is nothing to be sneezed at..even if they are LMIC, because everyone recommends a good, reliable, affordable health test to others in similar need.
Long term/higher margin supply deals for private sector (in LMIC and border countries) - Unitaid is providing 1m HIV tests in this deal (sharing with Abbott)...this is a starting point. It will continue to purchase HIV self-tests, as long as they are needed + the funding is available + the supplier is reliable + test quality remains high. As danhoff and RNClarke already pointed out earlier, this becomes a regular bread n butter rev channel (HIV already is anyway for AT1 rev and continues to grow exponentially)
One of Unitaid's other core mandate is to 'stimulate the local private market' for the items it supplies + "ensure that access to innovative health solutions becomes a reality".
It enables the entry for test brands (like AT1 HIV self-test) to retail their product to private sector markets in the same LMIC countries, since the test is now enabled for sale/distribution in that geo. eg: a profitable mining company workers in X LMIC African country would purchase AT1's HIV test for a higher retail price via pharmacies/GPs etc (whilst Unitaid supplies the needy in that country through its $2 channel)...both these sale channels are enabled because Unitaid sorts out the gov side for its project.
(20min delay)