CA Healthcare Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company focused on investing in healthcare, has made a definitive merger agreement with LumiraDx Limited a next-generation point of care diagnostics testing company. Since its founding, LumiraDx has raised $700 million in equity capital including investments by Morningside Ventures, U.S. Boston Capital Corporation, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Petrichor Healthcare Capital Management and other global strategic partners.
LumiraDx has developed its high sensitivity antigen test for COVID-19 on the LumiraDx platform. The test is currently being used by the National Health Service and Boots in the UK, CVS Health in the U.S., a significant number of accident and emergency rooms in Italy and other parts of Europe and is being deployed in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a growing number of African countries where access to laboratory diagnostics is limited.
“LumiraDx is at the tipping point of driving a transformation in diagnostic testing. This new public recognition will solidify our already growing presence in the point of care testing market,” said Ron Zwanziger, chairman and CEO of LumiraDx. “COVID-19 has demonstrated how important it is to have rapid and highly accurate diagnostic tests, at mass scale, and available everywhere. It has validated the performance of our platform and enabled us to partner with governments, health systems, retail chains and other customers to expand testing across community care settings both in high and low-and middle-income countries. This access to increased testing will change the way care pathways are currently practiced, improving patient outcomes and saving human lives.”
“LumiraDx’s next-generation point of care solutions provide a significant opportunity for our shareholders,” said Larry Neiterman, chairman and CEO of CAHC. “Ron and his management team have decades of entrepreneurial success in innovative diagnostics businesses and the LumiraDx Platform and testing menu offer healthcare providers and other customers major advantages over traditional central labs. LumiraDx has a clear strategy for addressing the large and underpenetrated testing market to increase next-generation POC market share. In the near-term, demand for fast, low-cost COVID-19 tests is driving strong and transformational growth for LumiraDx’s solutions.”
Upon closing of the transaction, LumiraDx and its common shares are expected to trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “LMDX.”
Evercore Inc. and Raymond James & Associates Inc. are serving as financial advisors to LumiraDx. BTIG LLC is serving as financial advisor and capital markets advisor to CA Healthcare Acquisition Corp. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP are serving as legal advisors to LumiraDx. Sidley Austin LLP is serving as legal advisor to CA Healthcare Acquisition Corp.