Pfizer Acquires COVID-Flu Test Developer Lucira Health for USD 36.4 Million

Pfizer Inc. (New York, NY, USA) has acquired Lucira Health, Inc. (Emeryville, CA, USA) for USD 36.4 million in a bankruptcy auction.

Lucira filed for bankruptcy in February 2023, just two days before receiving FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the first over-the-counter (OTC) at-home diagnostic test capable of differentiating and detecting influenza A and B. The COVID-19 & Flu Home Test is a single-use at-home test kit that delivers results from self-collected nasal swab samples in about 30 minutes. Lucira had previously received the first FDA EUA for an at-home rapid self-test, the Lucira COVID-19 All-in-One Test Kit, in November 2020, and the company announced in April 2021 that it had secured OTC EUA for its Lucira Check It test kit for SARS-CoV-2. The company's tests use a handheld battery-powered real-time testing instrument with nasal swab samples and loop-mediated isothermal amplification to provide results in 30 minutes. In November 2022, the FDA granted the company EUA for point-of-care use of its RT-LAMP-based COVID-19 and flu test.

Image: The Lucira COVID-19 Test provides 98% accurate, lab-quality results in 30 minutes or less (Photo courtesy of Lucira)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lucira experienced rapid growth as demand for the company's COVID-19 test kits increased. When announcing its Chapter 11 plans, Lucira stated that a lengthy EUA process for its COVID-19 and influenza test had proved expensive, leading to the bankruptcy filing and sale process. Lucira also mentioned in a previous SEC filing that a lack of clinical data had forced the company to restrict its combination test to point-of-care use until it could obtain more prospective clinical data.

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