OPKO Health Enters Companion Animal Health Market
October 27 2016 - 8:30AM
OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPK) announced today its entry into the
animal health market. The OPKO animal health team will
operate as a specialty business unit in cooperation with OPKO
Spain, which is already in this business, and OPKO Ireland, which
has been developing several oncology products for animals.
The total U.S. pet product market is $60 billion of which more than
$14 billion is for therapeutic products.
Cats and dogs are the most popular pet species
with approximately 86 million cats and 78 million dogs in
the United States and 99 million cats and 81 million dogs
in Europe. An estimated 65% of households in the United
States have at least one pet.
The role of pets in the family has evolved over
time; owners now consider pets important members of the
family. Pets are living longer and develop many of the
problems of human aging, such as arthritis, cancer, obesity, kidney
disease, diabetes and heart disease.
“OPKO is in a unique position to offer health
care products for companion animals with minimal investment by
utilizing its existing product and manufacturing resources,” said
Phillip Frost, M.D., Chairman and CEO of OPKO
Health.
“OPKO intends to leverage its proprietary
technologies to develop novel therapeutics to treat serious medical
conditions in pets. OPKO has been building its pipeline and
plans to introduce several over-the-counter products in 1Q, 2017
and select prescription products, in 4Q, 2017. OPKO’s
oncology products, developed with the support of OPKO Ireland, are
meant to treat common cancers in pets; over 6 million dogs and 6
million cats are diagnosed with cancer in the United States
annually,” continued Dr. Frost.
OPKO’s marketing team is developing a strategy
to exploit the key differentiating features and benefits of its
products. Working with key opinion leaders, OPKO has developed pet
friendly formulations and packaging with specific labeling for
different species. Products will be marketed through a logistics
partner and select national and regional distributors. OPKO expects
to sell to its customers, primary care veterinarians as well as
specialists, who normally sell to pet owners.
OPKO’s management team, including executives
from the successful DVM Pharmaceuticals division of IVAX
Corporation, has the advantage of years of experience in
successfully developing and marketing animal health products.
About OPKO Health OPKO Health,
Inc. is a diversified healthcare company that seeks to establish
industry-leading positions in large, rapidly growing markets. Our
diagnostics business includes Bio-Reference Laboratories, the
third-largest clinical laboratory in the U.S. with a core genetic
testing business and a 420 person sales force to drive growth and
sell new products, such as the 4Kscore prostate cancer test and the
Claros 1 in office immunoassay platform. Our pharmaceutical
business features RAYALDEE, an FDA approved treatment for stage 3-4
CKD patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism and vitamin D
insufficiency, and VARUBI™ for chemotherapy-induced nausea and
vomiting (oral formulation launched by partner Tesaro and IV
formulation PDUFA is January 2017). Our biologics products under
development are hGH-CTP, a once weekly human growth hormone for
injection (partnered with Pfizer), long acting Factor VIIa for
hemophilia (in Phase 2a) and a long acting oxyntomodulin for
diabetes and obesity (in Phase 1). OPKO has production and
distribution assets in several countries abroad, strategic
investments and an active business development strategy. More
information is available at www.opko.com.
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
our ability to develop novel therapeutics to treat serious medical
conditions in pets, our ability to offer health care products for
companion animals with minimal investment by utilizing our existing
product and manufacturing resources, our ability to successfully
develop and commercialize products for the companion animal market
and introduce over-the-counter and prescription product sales for
animal health in Q1 and Q4 2017, respectively, our ability to
commercialize our oncology products in development for pets and the
market potential, whether we will be able to market products
through a logistics partner and select national and regional
distributors and sell primarily to primary care veterinarians and
specialists, whether our products in development will prove to be
safe and effective, expectations regarding the products and market
potential, 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 the 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.
Source: OPKO Health, Inc.
OPKO Health, Inc.
Company
305-575-4100
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