Lumos Diagnostics Raises AU$25m in Oversubscribed Pre-IPO Capital Raise

Lumos Diagnostics, a rapid point-of-care diagnostics company, has closed an oversubscribed AU$25 million pre-IPO capital raise, ahead of an anticipated 2021 Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) listing.

The funding will enable Lumos, headquartered in Melbourne, to continue to build its high-growth rapid diagnostics business in the U.S., including expanding manufacturing operations in California and Florida and continuing commercial growth of its FebriDx® product, a world-first finger prick blood test that can indicate if a person has a bacterial or viral infection within 10 minutes.

The capital was raised from a combination of institutional funds, including Perennial Value and Ellerston Capital, and sophisticated investors, many of whom have backed Lumos through previous capital raises. It follows on from a successful Series A raise in early 2020, led by Planet Innovation, a Melbourne-based healthcare innovation company.

“Lumos has built a strong foundation over the past few years, and this funding will enable us to accelerate our growth plan,” said Sam Lanyon, executive chair of Lumos Diagnostics. “We’re delighted that investors recognize how unique Lumos is with its suite of rapid diagnostic digital solutions coupled with high-impact and globally relevant proprietary products such as FebriDx.”

David Keelan, Portfolio Manager at Ellerston Capital and a first-time Lumos investor, said: “I’m really excited by Lumos’s potential. Rapid diagnostics is a developing sector internationally, and to have a really strong and growing service business, complemented by a product business with huge potential – it was too good an investment to pass up.”

Ryan Sohn, Deputy Portfolio Manager at Perennial Value, was introduced to Lumos Diagnostics through Planet Innovation (PI), where he is also an investor. “Through PI, I’ve been able to track Lumos’s substantial growth over the past few years. It’s a company with great ambition and a great team behind it, and I’m excited to be a part of this next phase of growth as it prepares for an IPO next year,” Ryan said.

While many businesses have been negatively impacted by the devastating global impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, Lumos was well positioned to quickly respond and has subsequently experienced growth across both its service and product businesses. On the service side, Lumos has secured several contracts to develop and manufacture next generation rapid SARS-CoV-2 tests. On the product side, the UK’s National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) has demonstrated real-world use of the FebriDx test as a frontline triage tool to help healthcare workers manage suspected COVID-19 infected patients. The FebriDx test was featured in a UK Medtech Innovation Briefing (MIB), addressing the impact that the FebriDx test can have on the concurrent COVID-19 pandemic and antimicrobial resistance global health crises. Also, FebriDx may be used as an important risk assessment tool for safe workplaces and is currently being piloted in aged care and other professional use settings continuing to operate during the pandemic.

Robert Sambursky, MD, president and chief executive officer for Lumos Diagnostics, said the capital raise would enable Lumos to expand its commercial operations dedicated to both the continued development of rapid point-of-care diagnostics and meet the need for innovative testing solutions to help address the global COVID-19 pandemic.

“The unique ability of the FebriDx test to identify patients as viral or bacterial within 10 minutes helps guide clinical decision making – whether that is isolation for those identified as having a virus, antibiotic prescriptions for bacterial infections, or simply reassurance that an infection is not present. These actionable results make FebriDx the ideal front-line triage test for patients presenting with acute respiratory illness symptoms (sore throat, cough, shortness of breath) consistent with COVID-19 and an ideal tool for rapid deployment in any future pandemics,” Sambursky said.

While FebriDx is not yet commercially available in the U.S., Lumos Diagnostics has both ongoing and historic prospective, multicenter U.S. clinical trials and anticipates U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance.

Blackpeak Capital acted as Financial Advisor to Lumos and Joint Lead Manager for the raising alongside Canaccord Genuity.

About Lumos Diagnostics

Lumos Diagnostics specializes in rapid, cost-effective and complete point-of-care (POC) diagnostic test solutions to help healthcare professionals more accurately diagnose and manage medical conditions. Lumos offers customized assay development and manufacturing services for POC tests and proprietary digital reader platforms. Lumos also directly develops, manufactures and commercializes proprietary, Lumos-branded POC tests that target infectious and inflammatory diseases with unmet diagnostic needs.

Lumos’s current portfolio of tests includes:

• FebriDx®, an all-in-one, disposable, 10-minute, fingerstick blood test that differentiates viral from bacterial acute respiratory infections (ARI).
• COV-ID™; the Diagnostic Kit (Colloidal Gold) for IgG/IgM Antibody to SARS-CoV-2, a rapid and easy-to-use serology test for the qualitative detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 virus in patients suspected of a history of COVID-19 infection.

Both the FebriDx and COV-ID tests are CE marked for sale in Europe. FebriDx is also registered or licensed with the following other health authorities: Health Canada, Australia TGA, Saudi Arabia FDA, Pakistan DRAP, Singapore HSA, and Malaysia MoH. COV-ID is available in specific global markets in compliance with country requirements.The FebriDx test has not received U.S. FDA clearance and is not commercially available in the United States. For more information on Lumos Diagnostics, visit lumosdiagnostics.com, and for more information on FebriDx, visit febridx.com.

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Contact information

Laura Lovejoy Sambursky
communications@lumosdiagnostics.com
+1.941.928.9025