OPKO Health To Acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd.
Provides In-House Capabilities for Difficult Syntheses of Diagnostic
and Pharmaceutical Products
MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE:OPK) announced it has entered into an agreement
to acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd., a profitable Israeli company
which develops and produces high value, high potency active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The transaction is expected to close
on December 29, 2011. FineTech, established by Arie L. Gutman, Ph.D.,
possesses proprietary technology and know-how in several important areas
of organic synthesis. The company offers a full range of services from
paper chemistry and laboratory scale development to pilot scale and
commercial production; it is staffed with a team of highly qualified
chemists with vast experience in synthetic and analytical chemistry, as
well as expertise in multi-step syntheses, new polymorph development,
and chiral and prostaglandin chemistry. FineTech's FDA registered
facility in Nesher, Israel is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratory,
production and quality control equipment. FineTech's business model has
been to develop complex and problematic APIs for sale or license to
pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Israel.
"This acquisition is a good strategic fit for OPKO," said Phillip Frost,
M.D., OPKO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "FineTech's
significant know-how and experience with analytical chemistry and
organic syntheses, together with its production capabilities, will play
a valuable role in the development of OPKO's pipeline of proprietary
peptoids and other molecules for diagnostic and therapeutic products,
while providing revenues and profits."
"My colleagues and I are very excited to become part of the OPKO family
and look forward to the opportunities and challenges that await us,"
said Dr. Arie L. Gutman, President and CEO of FineTech. "We expect
continued growth of revenues and profits from existing products and
those in development. Our ability to develop novel processes for making
complex synthetic molecules will make us a very productive and valued
contributor to the OPKO business." Following the acquisition, Dr. Gutman
will continue to serve as CEO of FineTech.
About OPKO Health, Inc.
OPKO is a multi-national biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that
seeks to establish industry-leading positions in large and rapidly
growing medical markets by leveraging its discovery, development and
commercialization expertise and novel and proprietary technologies.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements," as that
term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995 (PSLRA), which statements may be identified by words such as
"expects," "plans," "projects," "will," "may," "anticipates,"
"believes," "should," "intends," "estimates," and other words of similar
meaning, including statements regarding the FineTech acquisition and
expected benefits, the anticipated closing date, expectations regarding
the development of the Company's research and development portfolio, and
statements regarding financial projections, including expectations for
continued growth of revenues and profits, as well as other
non-historical statements about our expectations, beliefs or intentions
regarding our business, technologies and products, financial condition,
strategies or prospects. Many factors could cause our actual activities
or results to differ materially from the activities and results
anticipated in forward-looking statements. These factors include those
described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as
well as integration issues involving FineTech, and risks inherent in
funding, developing and obtaining regulatory approvals of new,
commercially-viable and competitive products and treatments. In
addition, forward-looking statements may also be adversely affected by
general market factors, competitive product development, product
availability, federal and state regulations and legislation, the
regulatory process for new products and indications, manufacturing
issues that may arise, patent positions and litigation, among other
factors. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release
speak only as of the date the statements were made, and we do not
undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements. We intend
that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor
provisions of the PSLRA.
OPKO Health, Inc.
Steve Rubin, 305-575-6015
Source: OPKO Health, Inc.
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