Coppersmith Capital Management LLC made the claim in a letter to fellow Alere investors. Coppersmith Capital Management LLC has a roughly 7% ownership in Alere. Four of the ten board of directors are due to be replaced at its annual shareholder meeting in August.

Coppersmith wants Alere shareholders to support its three candidates as opposed to a Waltham, a Massachusetss-based company, group of nominees to the board.

Coppersmith, in their strategy detailed in the letter, called for Alere to sell its non-core businesses which includes its health care management business, called Health Information Solutions, its joint venture project with Procter & Gamble, and a toxicology unit.

Coppersmith argues that the sale proceeds from these assets, which it believes could sum up to $3.8 billion, could be used to pay off the company's debt instead. It has also said that cutting corporate overhead and expense could produce a further US$50 million to US$100 million in yearly cost savings.