OPKO Health Supports National Prostate Cancer Council Legislation

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE: OPK) is pleased to lend its support to the legislation introduced in the United States Senate on September 16, 2014 by Senators Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) legislating the formation of the National Prostate Cancer Council (NPCC). The Boxer-Sessions legislation directs formation of the NPCC to develop and implement a national strategic plan to accelerate the innovation of diagnostic tools to improve prostate cancer screening and early detection, while also helping to reduce unnecessary treatment.

In her press release, Senator Boxer stated: “Prostate cancer is one of the leading threats to the health and lives of the men of this country. We owe it to our families to do all we can to fight this deadly disease.”

In his announcement, Senator Sessions said: “I am pleased to join Senator Boxer in this effort to address improved screening tools for prostate cancer. Testing and early detection are the keys to combat this disease. When identified early, the survival rate for prostate cancer is very high. We need to ensure that we have the most advanced screening tools available and this legislation is a step in the right direction.”

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men and is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in men. In 2014, it is predicted that 233,000 new prostate cancer cases will be diagnosed, and more than 29,400 men will die from the disease.

Screening with PSA, while effective in identifying some prostate cancers, results in numerous false-positives, which can lead to painful, costly and unnecessary procedures. Conversely, false-negatives with PSA can also occur, leaving many men to wrongly believe they are cancer-free.

“Early detection is essential for obtaining better outcomes with prostate cancer, but we now know this can only be achieved with better diagnostic tests built on stronger biomarkers than PSA alone,” said David Okrongly, President of OPKO Diagnostics. “The 4Kscore™ test, recently launched by OPKO Health, addresses this challenge. The 4Kscore is a non-invasive blood test that accurately identifies risk for aggressive prostate cancer while helping patients and healthcare payers avoid unnecessary procedures.”

About OPKO Health

OPKO Health, Inc. is a multinational biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that seeks to establish industry leading positions in large, rapidly growing markets by leveraging its discovery, development and commercialization expertise and novel and proprietary technologies. Our prostate cancer test, the 4Kscore™ test, is the only blood test that accurately identifies risk for aggressive prostate cancer. The 4Kscore test provides an individualized risk score for the presence of aggressive prostate cancer and adds new information to the shared decision making discussion between a Urologist and patient. For more information, visit http://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 expected benefits of the 4Kscore Test, that the 4Kscore will accurately identify risk for aggressive prostate cancer, whether the test will bring exceptional value to European healthcare by allowing clinicians to accurately identify risk for aggressive prostate cancer, whether the test will bring great benefit to patients and the healthcare system by helping avoid the cost of unnecessary, sometimes harmful procedures, whether the 4KscoreTest can make a significant contribution in Europe to help target the right patients for aggressive treatment and avoid the harms that accompany over detection and over treatment of indolent prostate cancer, expected growth in use of the test in the U.S. and Europe and whether OPKO Health will launch the test in Latin America, whether the test will accurately predict high-grade cancers, whether OPKO Health will successfully commercialize the 4Kscore, the market for and expected sales of 4Kscore, whether the test will be an important benefit for Urologists and their patients and will lead to lower overall healthcare costs, 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.

OPKO Health
David Okrongly, 305-575-4133

Source: OPKO Health

Released September 29, 2014