OPKO Scientist Reports Results at Alzheimer’s Association International Conference

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE: OPK) today announced that Thomas Kodadek, a Professor at The Scripps Research Institute and the Director of Chemistry and Molecular Biology for OPKO, made a presentation entitled 'Candidate Serum IgG Biomarkers of Alzheimer’s Disease' at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, being held from July 14 to 19, 2012. The data regarding OPKO’s blood serum test for Alzheimer’s disease was selected for oral presentation as part of the conference’s 'Advances in Plasma Alzheimer’s Biomarkers Symposia.'

In his presentation, Dr. Kodadek summarized OPKO’s Alzheimer’s disease biomarker work and presented data from recent blinded studies of clinically characterized serum samples and autopsy-confirmed plasma samples. These studies continue to show the utility of OPKO’s disease-specific small molecule-antibody complexes in the diagnosis of established Alzheimer’s disease, including diagnostic specificity of 100% in a blinded study of 36 autopsy-confirmed plasma samples. Studies of patients with early stage disease are in progress. As previously announced, OPKO has entered into an agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings for the commercialization of laboratory testing services for Alzheimer’s disease utilizing OPKO’s technology.

“The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease is growing rapidly due to the aging population, creating an unsustainable burden on patients, caregivers and the economy,” said Phillip Frost, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of OPKO. “OPKO is committed to discovering and developing novel diagnostic tools which will be useful in the detection of Alzheimer’s disease and the development of new medicines to treat the disease.”

Dr. Kodadek also announced the discovery of peptoids that capture autoantibodies diagnostic for the demyelinating disease Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO). OPKO intends to commercialize a serum test based on four of these markers which provided a diagnostic sensitivity of 90% and a diagnostic specificity of 100%. This test could be useful in diagnosing patients that present with visual problems to distinguish NMO patients from those with multiple sclerosis or other disorders which may require very different treatment regimes.

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 our diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s Disease, our ability to successfully develop and commercialize a diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s Disease, NMO and other diseases, and our ability to discover and develop novel diagnostic tools useful in the detection of Alzheimer’s disease and the development of new medicines to treat the disease, 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, including that specificity data on small sample sizes may not be indicative of specificity on larger samples or the disease population in general. These factors include those described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as 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, 305-575-4100

Source: OPKO Health, Inc.

Released July 17, 2012