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At-Home Infectious Disease Test Developer Lucira Health Goes Public at $17 Per Share

NEW YORK — Lucira Health went public on Friday as its shares began trading on the Nasdaq for $17 per share under ticker symbol LHDX.

The Emeryville, California-based company late on Thursday priced its upsized initial public offering of 9,000,000 shares of common stock at $17 per share for anticipated gross proceeds of $153 million.

Lucira, the developer of an instrument-free molecular diagnostics platform for infectious disease testing, has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,350,000 shares of common stock at the IPO price, less underwriting discounts and commissions.

BofA Securities and William Blair are the lead bookrunning managers and LifeSci Capital is a comanager for the offering, which is expected to close on Feb. 9.

In a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Lucira said it intends to use the IPO proceeds to support its manufacturing activities, to establish commercial operations including a sales and marketing team, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

In November, the company received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration for the Lucira COVID-19 All-in-One Test Kit, a rapid, at-home, real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) SARS-CoV-2 test available by prescription that runs on a handheld battery-powered device.

Shares of Lucira Health were up more than 31 percent to $22.34 in Friday afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. 

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