With ever increasing bodies of medical research and demand for early disease detection climbing, it’s high time that we rethink diagnostic testing.
The trend of having to wait three days to see if your pee is free of nasties is fraught with administration challenges and can delay treatment. Spend time in any medical establishment and you will inevitably see a lost sample, mislabeled specimen, delayed sample collections or have the lab completely lose swabs all together.
Mistakes happen… There are a lot of steps to get that pee to the lab to be tested, and a result uploaded.
Enter point-of-care (POC) testing, the decentralised approach to diagnostics that offers rapid test results without the need for labs, specialist facilities or the infrastructure around them. Analysis of samples can be done whilst the patient is still present, allowing healthcare to be provided on the spot.
Lumos Diagnostics (proposed ASX code: LDX) is a company focused on developing rapid POC testing technologies and is looking to debut on the the ASX on July 5.
Seeking to raise $63 million with shares priced at $1.25 a piece, Lumos will have an indicative market capitalisation of $187.7 million. New shareholders will make up about 33% of the Company’s shareholder base.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Lumos is an amalgamation of multiple different companies. Originally founded in 2015 as Planet Innovation, the Company was propelled forward following the acquisition of Nplex, who owned the tech for electronic readers of diagnostic tests. 2017 saw Planet Innovation acquire Kestrel Biosciences to further expand their platform’s capabilities and rebranded as “Lumos Diagnostics” in the same year.
In 2019 Lumos merged with Florida based Rapid Pathogen Screening, another company in the POC diagnosis space developing FebriDx, a test to determine the presence of microbial infection and if the cause is bacterial or viral.
FebriDx was launched by Lumos in late 2020 and is already generating sales via appointed distributors in the UK, Germany and Canada. The test is pending regulatory clearance in the US by the FDA following which the product will be launched.
Other tests developed by Lumos aid in detection and monitoring of infectious diseases (HIV, COVID-19, STIs, Influenza, tropical diseases), glucose levels, fertility and pregnancy, cancers and cholesterol levels.
Infectious disease diagnostics is Lumos’ primary focus with 9.8% of total global sales for POC diagnostic tests being for some form of infectious disease in 2020.
Lumos runs two main divisions: the Commercial Services Division which develops and manufactures POC tests on behalf of clients under fee-based commercial contracts, and the Products Division which creates in-licensed POC tests for commercial sale by Lumos.
With increased vigilance across healthcare in the wake of COVID, sales have been strong for Lumos which reported $11.5m in revenue for the six months ending 31 December 2020, almost triple of what was generated over the previous corresponding period.
The Commercial Services Division seems to be the golden child generating $9.8m over that half year, compared with $3.3 million the previous year.
Rationale behind the IPO however suggests Lumos is confident they can secure more of the international market where global sales for POC diagnostic tests generated USD $29.6 billion in 2020.
Lumos’ patents, expertise and skill in creating modern day testing solutions could see it become an integral part of our healthcare system moving forward in both developed and developing countries.
Samantha Freidin is a business journalist at Emerald Financial whilst also completing a Masters of Marketing and Digital Communications at Monash University.
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