NEW YORK, July 14 (Reuters) - Prominent healthcare

entrepreneur Ron Zwanziger approached medical device maker

OraSure Technologies ( OSUR ) with a takeover offer, three

people familiar with the matter said, in what would mark more

consolidation in the heavily fragmented diagnostic industry.

In June, Zwanziger submitted an unsolicited all-cash

proposal to buy the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-headquartered

company, known for its COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, the sources

said.

Along with a prominent Wall Street investor and others -- people

the sources did not identify -- Zwanziger proposed paying

between $3.50 and $4.00 a share for OraSure ( OSUR ). OraSure's ( OSUR ) stock was

trading aT $3.18 on Monday morning, leaving it with a market

capitalization of $238.6 million.

The company's board rejected the offer not long after it was

sent, without any discussions between the parties, the three

sources said.

A company representative did not immediately respond to a

request for comment.

A representative for Zwanziger, a serial deal maker who cemented

his reputation through at-home blood glucose testing, could not

be reached for comment.

Zwanziger has built and sold a handful of diagnostic

companies during his long career, and sold diagnostic test

manufacturer Alere Abbott Laboratories in 2017 for

around $5.3 billion.

The rebuffed offer for OraSure ( OSUR ) was his second effort to

combine with the company, according to one of the sources. In

2022, only a few months after the company named Carrie Eglinton

Manner as its chief executive officer, Zwanziger proposed a

merger through a stock swap, but terms could not be reached, the

source said.

OraSure ( OSUR ) appealed to Zwanziger because of its solid core

technology and he thought he could turn around the company's

fortunes quickly with a new team, the sources said.

The company's stock price has fallen 27% in the last 12 months

and is off 77% over the last five years. Quarterly revenue has

been dropping since early 2023 as COVID-19 era sales dried up.

OraSure ( OSUR ) has been attempting to diversify its business as a

result, buying Sherlock Biosciences late last year for its

molecular diagnostics platform.

Point of care diagnostic companies offer accurate results in

real time to measure cholesterol, and detect flu and pregnancy,

for example. But the industry still remains highly fragmented

with companies such as Danaher ( DHR ), Siemens,

Roche and Thermo Fisher Scientific ( TMO ) capturing the

biggest market share.