Ron Zwanziger (born 1954,

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

) is an American businessman. He is best known for founding and leading the diagnostic test manufacturer

Alere Alere Inc. was a global manufacturer of rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests. The company was founded in 1991 and was headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. As of January 2017, the company had a market capitalization of $3.47 billion with an en ...

Early life and education

Zwanziger was born in

in 1954 and raised on the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

after 1956. He earned an engineering degree from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a ...

in 1975 and an MBA from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA ...

in 1981.

Career

Medisense (1981-1991)

Along with three business school classmates, Zwanziger co-founded Medisense Inc., a maker of

glucose meter A glucose meter, also referred to as a "glucometer", is a medical device for determining the approximate concentration of glucose in the blood. It can also be a strip of glucose paper dipped into a substance and measured to the glucose chart. ...

s used in

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

home care, in 1981. He served as CEO until 1991. Originally, the company worked on 13 disparate biotechnology ideas, hoping one or another would pay off. By 1984, the company had narrowed its focus to one of the projects, which concerned electrochemical biosensors. In 1987, Medisense introduced the ExacTech, which was the first electrochemical biosensor-based glucose meter for home use. This technology required less blood to obtain a reading, and by 2008 was used in a majority of the 6 billion home blood glucose tests being performed annually. In his textbook on

electrochemistry Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between electrical potential difference, as a measurable and quantitative phenomenon, and identifiable chemical change, with the potential difference as an outc ...

, Alan Bond of

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

suggests that the commercial success of electrochemical home glucose monitoring "predominantly can be attributed to the introduction of the ExacTech system." Medisense was acquired by

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known dr ...

in 1996 for $876 million.

Alere (1991-2014)

Zwanziger founded

Alere Inc. Alere Inc. was a global manufacturer of rapid point-of-care diagnostic tests. The company was founded in 1991 and was headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. As of January 2017, the company had a market capitalization of $3.47 billion with an e ...

(then called Selfcare Inc.), a diagnostic test manufacturer, in 1991. He served as CEO until 2014. Alere's diabetes unit was sold to

Johnson and Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational corporation founded in 1886 that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company i ...

( LifeScan) in 2001 for $1.3 billion. With the 2001 acquisition of the subsidiary Unipath from

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

, Alere became the leading manufacturer of

ovulation Ovulation is the release of eggs from the ovaries. In women, this event occurs when the ovarian follicles rupture and release the secondary oocyte ovarian cells. After ovulation, during the luteal phase, the egg will be available to be fertilize ...

and pregnancy tests. Alere acquired Biosite Inc. in a $1.7 billion

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

in 2007. By 2012, Alere was the largest manufacturer in the

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...

testing space, according to the nonprofit

Population Services International Population Services International (PSI) is a 501(c)(3) registered nonprofit global health organization with programs targeting malaria, child survival, HIV, and reproductive health. PSI provides products, clinical services and behavior change ...

. Abbott acquired Alere in 2017 for $5.3 billion.

LumiraDx (2014-present)

Along with longtime partners Drs. David Scott and Jerry McAleer, Zwanziger co-founded the diagnostic test manufacturer LumiraDx in 2014, and he currently serves as CEO. A 2021 meta-analysis of 133 studies showed that LumiraDx's

COVID-19 rapid antigen test COVID-19 rapid antigen tests or RATs, also frequently called COVID-19 lateral flow tests or LFTs, are rapid antigen tests used to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19). They are quick to implement with minimal training, cost a fraction of other ...

had the highest sensitivity among 61 products.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zwanziger, Ron 1954 births Living people American businesspeople Harvard Business School alumni People from Tel Aviv Israeli emigrants to the United States