NEW YORK – This week BioMérieux announced that it has acquired Lumed, a developer of clinical decision support software. BioMérieux increased its stake in the Quebec, Canada-based firm from 16 percent to 100 percent, representing an investment of approximately €9 million ($9.9 million). Lumen's software is intended to help antimicrobial stewardship teams improve daily workflow and to optimize care delivery, cost, and patient management. The two firms have collaborated since 2017.
Labcorp said this week that its board of directors has declared a cash dividend of $.72 per share of common stock, which will be paid on March 13 to stockholders of record as of Feb. 27.
Opko Health announced this week that it has closed a private offering of $230.0 million of its convertible senior notes due in 2029 and received estimated net proceeds of about $221.4 million after fees and expenses. The firm said it used about $50.0 million of the proceeds from the offering to repurchase shares of common stock and $146.3 million of the proceeds to repurchase for cash about $144.4 million in aggregate principal amount from its outstanding 4.50 percent convertible senior notes due in 2025. Opko said it plans to use the remaining proceeds for general corporate purposes.
Autoimmune testing firm Exagen said this week that it expects to report full-year 2023 revenues of at least $50 million, which would be an increase over the firm's previously reported full-year 2022 revenues of $45.6 million. The firm said it delivered about 137,000 Avise CTD tests during the year. The firm also anticipates it will record a non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA loss of $20 million for the year.
MyHealthChecked this week reported £11 million ($14 million) in preliminary 2023 revenues, down from £22.3 million in 2022. COVID lateral flow tests still account for the majority of revenues for the Cardiff, UK-based consumer home testing healthcare company. "Whilst revenue has, as expected, reduced compared to the prior year, the seasonality of respiratory infections drove an uplift in demand during the second half, and we expect that COVID testing will remain an ongoing annual requirement for customers," CEO Penny McCormick said in a statement. At the end of 2023, MyHealthChecked had £7.8 million in cash left.
Israeli targeted DNA sequencing company Sequentify said this week that it has received an undisclosed amount of funding from the Israel Innovation Authority. The grant, which is part of a $1.3 million project, will support the development of the company's targeted sequencing panel for infectious disease research. The goal is to generate a culture-free test that focuses on pathogen diagnosis and antibiotic resistance surveillance. Rehovot-based Sequentify said the project is part of its efforts to enhance the utility of its ultra-fast InfiniSeq technology in the area of infectious diseases.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on 360Dx.