Pfizer boosts bid to win bankrupt Covid-flu test maker Lucira

Pfizer's last-minute $36.4-million bid for at-home COVID-flu test developer Lucira Health was declared the winner in an unusual bankruptcy court hearing, reported the San Francisco Business Times.

The drugmaker was allowed during the hearing by US Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath to make the bid to top a $35.9-million offer by Pearsanta, made during an auction last week.

However, Lucira and a committee of unsecured creditors had selected a previous $26-million Pfizer bid, though lower than that of Pearsanta, after concerns that Pearsanta would not be able to close the deal in time.

Lucira and creditors came to the same conclusion again late last week after Pearsanta upped its bid with parent company Aditxt offering to throw in 500,000 shares of its stock for the Lucira estate, effectively topping Pfizer's bid.

During the hearing on Friday, the companies and their attorneys weighed the escalating offers and tried to determine how much cash, assumed contracts and cures went into each bid. In the end, Pfizer was chosen for its ability to continue Lucira's business and meet the court-scheduled closing date of Thursday.

Lucira CEO Erik Engelson had said the company hoped a combined COVID-flu test could snag an emergency-use authorisation ahead of the 2022-2023 flu season. With its potential acquisition, that charge would fall to Pfizer for the next flu season.