Global Partnership to Introduce a Connected, Point-of-Care Diagnostic Platform for COVID-19 Antigen Testing in Africa

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LONDON, Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LumiraDx, the next generation point-of-care diagnostic company, announced today a $32 million global partnership with Africa Union, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) with the support of the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, The Mastercard Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation to expand access to fast, accurate and equitable COVID-19 testing in Africa.

With Foundations' support, LumiraDx is providing five thousand portable diagnostic instruments and related COVID-19 antigen tests, while AMSP – the single-source platform  enabling faster, more transparent and cost-effective access to COVID-19-related critical diagnostics and medical equipment – will supply it equitably across 55 African Union member states, addressing both the immediate critical need for COVID-19 testing and building the foundation for long-term primary care infrastructure.

"LumiraDx is committed to meeting the global challenge of delivering fast, accurate, and equitable diagnostic testing for COVID-19 and beyond," said LumiraDx CEO Ron Zwanziger. "We're proud to work with global health NGOs and government leaders to make our high-sensitivity microfluidic based COVID-19 antigen test available across Africa."

In studies, the LumiraDx SARS-CoV-2 antigen test demonstrated 97.6% positive agreement versus PCR in patients tested up to 12 days after the onset of symptoms, allowing patients in remote areas a wide window in which to get high sensitivity diagnostic test results. The LumiraDx Platform offers secure, cloud-based connectivity via cell phone, enabling real-time reporting and management of results. Together, the LumiraDx Platform offers a high-quality, connected COVID-19 testing solution while setting up capabilities for broader point-of-care testing in community-care settings in Africa.

"Testing technology that offers results in minutes – not days or weeks – is an important part of the African Union's Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) initiative," said Africa CDC Executive Director Dr. John Nkengasong. "We look forward to working together with our global health partners to mobilize experts, community workers, supplies and other resources to minimize the impact of the pandemic on the African continent by testing, tracing, and treating COVID-19 cases in a timely manner."

"Through this partnership, our African Union Member States will have access to high-sensitivity point-of-care COVID-19 antigen tests on the AMSP," said African Union Special Envoy Strive Masiyiwa. "The platform was created to bring manufacturers and suppliers together to collectively address the quality, affordability and accessibility challenges facing our communities during the COVID-19 crisis."

"We have to double down our efforts and make sure Africa has access to the latest and most performant technologies to protect our people and reopen our economies. The AMSP team has been working relentlessly to launch its COVID-19 antigen offering and we are proud to partner with LumiraDx, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mastercard Foundation and others to achieve this goal," said Fatoumata Bâ, Founder & Executive Chair of Janngo and Managing Partner of Janngo Capital.

"We cannot fight COVID-19 without understanding where the disease is spreading. Access to diagnostics are vital in providing data to equip governments and health professionals to take measures to slow transmission. We are pleased to be working with partners to improve COVID-19 diagnostics and improve primary care capabilities in Africa," said Gates Foundation President of Global Health, Trevor Mundel.

About LumiraDx

LumiraDx was founded in 2014 by a group of entrepreneurs: Ron Zwanziger, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Dave Scott, Ph.D., our Chief Technology Officer; and Jerry McAleer, Ph.D., our Chief Scientist, who have a successful track record in building and scaling diagnostics businesses over three decades, including at companies such as Medisense, Inc., Inverness Medical Technology Inc. and Alere Inc. The company is supported by institutional and strategic investors including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Morningside Ventures and U.S. Boston Capital Corporation. Based in the UK and supported by its worldwide affiliates to provide access in all major markets, LumiraDx has over 750 employees worldwide.

LumiraDx's Platform simplifies, scales down, and integrates techniques used in laboratory analyzers to provide lab-comparable diagnostic tests on a single point-of-care instrument that can be easily used in community care settings. It's able to deliver a broad menu of tests on a single instrument and guarantees high-quality results at low cost, making it an ideal resource for developing communities as they establish local health care infrastructure.

Further information on LumiraDx and the LumiraDx Platform is available at lumiradx.com.

SOURCE LumiraDx

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