Lucira Health to pursue sale through Chapter 11

Lucira Health announced that it has filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company further disclosed that it intends to pursue a sale of its business under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code, while continuing to support its customers during the Chapter 11 process. The company expects to continue operations during the Chapter 11 process and seeks to complete an expedited sale process with Bankruptcy Court approval. Lucira intends to use available cash on hand to fund post-petition operations and costs in the ordinary course. To minimize the adverse effects on its business and the value of its estate, the company has filed customary motions with the Bankruptcy Court to sustain its operations in the ordinary course including, but not limited to, paying employees and continuing existing benefits programs, continuing to honor prepetition insurance policies, authorizing payment of certain prepetition taxes and fees, related check and electronic payment requests, authorizing use of its cash management system and prepetition payment methods, honoring commitments to customers and fulfilling obligations post-petition, and appointing Donlin Recano & Company, Inc. as its Claims and Noticing Agent, among others. Erik Engelson, President and CEO of Lucira Health commented, "I am proud of our accomplishments and the manner in which our employees came together to support the world during the global pandemic. The rapid development and integration of a COVID-19 assay onto our test platform, followed by field clinical testing of symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals during the height of the pandemic and subsequent regulatory approvals, was gratifying and proved the pandemic readiness thesis of our proprietary technology platform. The unpredictability of selling into a pandemic made for a very challenging operating environment though collectively, we managed to grow significantly, reached positive net income, and drove continued innovation in our offering. Unfortunately, as restrictions lessened in 2022, we saw lower demand for COVID-19 tests. This, combined with slower than anticipated regulatory approval for the new combined test kit developed for the 2022-2023 flu season led to insufficient revenue and capitalization to offset expenditures. Despite every effort to reduce capital outlays and restructure our business, we took this action to protect and maximize the value of our assets."