Pfizer Acquires COVID-Flu Test Developer Lucira Health for USD 36.4 Million
Posted on 02 May 2023
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.
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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Lucira Health, Inc.
