OPKO Investee SciVac Ltd. Enters into Transaction with Levon Resources
March 23 2015 - 9:06AM
Business Wire
OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE: OPK) announced today that SciVac Ltd.
("SciVac"), an Israeli entity in which OPKO has a forty-five
percent ownership interest, has entered into an agreement pursuant
to which Levon Resources Ltd. (LVN.TO)(OTC:LVNVF)(LO9.F) will
acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of
SciVac by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement (the
“Arrangement”). Upon closing, Levon intends to change its name to
SciVac Inc. (“New SciVac”), and the current officers and directors
of SciVac will be the officers and directors of New SciVac
post-closing. The current owners of SciVac will own 68.4% of the
outstanding shares of New SciVac post-closing, with OPKO owning
approximately 30% of the outstanding shares.
New SciVac will retain CAD $27 million in cash following the
transaction. All other assets and other liabilities of the current
Levon business are being transferred to a newly formed company to
be owned 100% by the current Levon shareholders.
“This transaction provides capital to SciVac and should further
our goal of expanding market opportunities for SciVac products in
development, including Sci-B-Vac™, a next generation hepatitis B
vaccine which has already been approved in several countries,
including Israel, where it has been provided to thousands of
newborn children,” said Phillip Frost, Chairman and CEO of OPKO.
“SciVac intends to pursue marketing approvals for Sci-B-Vac in the
United States and other territories worldwide, initially focusing
on at-risk populations such as End-Stage Renal Disease and HIV
patients. SciVac also expects to develop a pipeline of other
therapeutics to address various diseases with significant unmet
medical needs.”
About SciVac Ltd.
SciVac Ltd., headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, is in the
business of developing, producing and marketing biological products
for human healthcare. SciVac’s flagship product, Sci-B-Vac, is a
recombinant mammalian cell produced next generation vaccine which
has in multiple clinical studies demonstrated enhanced antibody
response in a population of documented non and low-responders for
which conventional hepatitis B vaccines do not elicit adequate
antibody production. In addition, studies indicate that the vaccine
induces rapid seroprotection and can be used for immunotherapy of
chronic hepatitis B. Sci-B-Vac is currently marketed in Israel and
has received marketing authorizations in several countries.
SciVac also offers contract development and manufacturing
services to the life sciences and biotechnology markets.
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.
SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT
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
acquisition and the benefits of the transaction with Levon,
expectations regarding Sci-B-Vac, whether we will be successful in
expanding market opportunities for SciVac and obtain marketing
approval in the U.S. and other territories, 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, that the various
conditions to the closing of the transaction may not be met, 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.Steven D. Rubin or Adam Logal, 305-575-4100
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