Chembio Diagnostics in collaboration with UK company

Medical test developer Chembio Diagnostics Inc. in Medford announced Wednesday a collaboration that it said would lead to new tests for undisclosed infectious diseases.

Chembio said it “has entered into a collaboration agreement” with LumiraDx, a British health care company focused on software and data. The agreement calls for LumiraDx to pay Chembio an unspecified amount “to develop new point-of-care diagnostic tests for infectious diseases.”

Previously, Chembio has developed and sold rapid tests for HIV, syphilis, Ebola, Zika, malaria and other tropical diseases.

Under the agreement, Chembio will manufacture and sell reagents, or substances used to detect the presence of disease, to LumiraDx and also receive royalty payments on the sale of tests and other products.

“Through our joint efforts, we expect the new products to provide access to a broader customer base,” said Chembio CEO John Sperzel. “In addition, we anticipate expanding our product portfolio by applying reagent biomarkers funded through this agreement” to Chembio tests.

He said there is no "end date" to the collaboration agreement.

LumiraDx CEO Ron Zwanziger said working with Chembio will produce “commercial opportunity for both firms.”

LumiraDx, which has an office in Waltham, Massachusetts, was begun in 2014 by executives who had started companies in medical testing and information technology.

The British business has developed software to manage anticoagulation, programs to help patients care for themselves at home, and software that allows physicians in Manchester, England, to share data about their patients.

The announcement came before the stock market opened on Wednesday.  Chembio ended the day up  5 cents,  to $7.90 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.