OSUR: Secures Distrib Rights Next-Gen Consumer Dx Company

Distribution of Sapphiros’ products is expected to accelerate OraSure’s core revenue growth rate beginning in 2025.

BETHLEHEM, Pa., Jan. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSUR), a leader in point-of-care and home diagnostic tests, specimen collection devices, and microbiome laboratory and analytical services, today announced it is leading the Series B financing and has entered wide-ranging strategic distribution agreements with Sapphiros, a privately held consumer diagnostics portfolio company based in Boston, and certain of its related entities. Sapphiros was conceived in 2020 by experienced healthcare executive Namal Nawana and launched along with leading global investment firm KKR in 2021. The company has since developed innovative capabilities including novel sample collection, next-generation detection systems, computational biology, and printed electronics to help consumers access diagnostic results.

Through this strategic relationship, OraSure expects to be able to offer a more comprehensive range of low-cost diagnostic tests and sample management solutions to its customers globally. OraSure has secured exclusive distribution rights to key products in Sapphiros’ development pipeline that align with and enhance OraSure’s existing areas of expertise, including self-collected blood samples and diagnostic tests for sexually transmitted infections, respiratory conditions, and other diseases.

“Our partnership and investment in Sapphiros significantly expands and accelerates our product and innovation pipeline. It also advances our vision to improve the access, quality, and affordability of healthcare, including addressing unmet needs in the growing consumer diagnostic market,” said Carrie Eglinton Manner, President and CEO of OraSure. “We are excited to collaborate with the Sapphiros team to fully unlock the value and benefits of this relationship.”

This partnership connects Sapphiros’ innovation and robust product pipeline with OraSure’s strength in commercial distribution to serve new and existing market segments. It also creates opportunities for further collaboration in co-developing future products and advancing Sapphiros’ novel platforms for next-generation lateral flow devices, break-through molecular technologies, and advanced biosensors. Initial product distribution is expected to begin in 2024, with multiple additional products expected to launch in 2025 and beyond, subject to regulatory approvals. Distribution of Sapphiros’ products is expected to accelerate revenue growth in OraSure’s core business beginning in 2025.

"Our relationship with OraSure is a significant milestone for Sapphiros, and we are excited to partner with an organization that shares our focus on expanding access to diagnostic insights. We believe OraSure’s existing commercial infrastructure will allow us to quickly and efficiently scale following regulatory approvals to the populations that need them the most," said Mark Gladwell, President and CEO of Sapphiros. "We are looking forward to an innovation-filled future that will have a real impact on global health."

Conference Call Information
OraSure will host a conference call to discuss its strategic relationship with Sapphiros at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024. A webcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations page of OraSure’s website at orasure.gcs-web.com/events-and-presentations . Please click on the webcast link and follow the prompts for registration and access at least 10 minutes prior to the call. The webcast will be archived on OraSure’s website shortly after the call has ended and will be available for approximately 90 days.

To participate in the live conference call, please follow the link below to pre-register. After registering, you will be provided with access details via email.

register.vevent.com/register/BIeb0ab4e711c74d0f90b2c435f5a4266f

About OraSure Technologies, Inc.
OraSure Technologies (the “Company”) transforms health through actionable insight and powers the shift that connects people to healthcare wherever they are. The Company improves access, quality, and value of healthcare with innovation in effortless tests, sample management solutions, and services. OraSure, together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, DNA Genotek, Diversigen, and Novosanis, provides its customers with end-to-end solutions that encompass diagnostics, tools, and services. The OraSure family of companies is a leader in the development, manufacture, and distribution of rapid diagnostic tests, sample collection and stabilization devices, and molecular services solutions designed to discover and detect critical medical conditions. OraSure’s portfolio of products is sold globally to clinical laboratories, hospitals, physician’s offices, clinics, public health and community-based organizations, research institutions, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, commercial entities, and direct to consumers. For more information on OraSure Technologies, please visit www.orasure.com

About Sapphiros
Sapphiros, backed by KKR and Neoenta, is a privately held consumer diagnostics company. Sapphiros’ portfolio of capabilities and technologies includes novel sample collection, next-generation diagnostics, computational biology, and printed electronics, which help consumers access important diagnostic results globally. Knowing Now Moves Us™