Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drug maker, will buy the assets of at-home COVID-flu test developer Lucira Health Inc. following an auction Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, the San Francisco Business Times reported. After meeting with the unsecured creditors' committee, Emeryville-based Lucira declared Pfizer, the manufacturer of a critical COVID-19 vaccine and drug, as the successful bidder. The next highest bidder was Pearsanta Inc., a recently formed subsidiary of Richmond, Virginia-based Aditxt Inc., according to a bankruptcy court filing. Court filings did not disclose how much the companies bid for Lucira, which was the first company to win Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization in late 2020 for an at-home, do-it-yourself molecular diagnostic test for COVID. Lucira filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February as it awaited FDA approval of a combined COVID-flu test for which it had been trying to take to market for months. Two days after the bankruptcy filing, FDA officials granted emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the combined test. Pfizer's purchase of Lucira's assets is scheduled to be heard April 13 before Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary F. Walrath.
