OPKO Health Announces Appointment of Patricia Sandler as National Sales Director for Rayaldee

MIAMI, July 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OPKO Health (NASDAQ: OPK) announced that it has appointed Patricia Sandler as National Sales Director overseeing Rayaldee sales in the United States (U.S.). Ms. Sandler brings over 25 years of sales and marketing experience to OPKO along with a robust track record of success across numerous roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Before joining OPKO, Ms. Sandler most recently served as regional Field Vice President for GlaxoSmithKline. During her career, Ms. Sandler has led multiple product launches, including the first commercial product launch for Omeros Corporation, a Seattle based biotech company. Prior to Omeros, Ms. Sandler served several other prominent pharmaceutical companies, including Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer, Inc. across a wide range of therapeutic categories, developing a broad skill set pertinent to all stages of brand development.

“We are delighted to welcome Ms. Sandler to our dedicated team of professionals driving Rayaldee sales in the U.S.,” stated Dr. Charles W. Bishop, CEO, OPKO Renal Division.  “Ms. Sandler has the required experience to further increase the reach and efficiency of our expanding commercial efforts.”

RAYALDEE is an extended-release prohormone of calcitriol, the active form of vitamin D₃.  The product is the only such therapy approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that raises serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and lowers blood levels of parathyroid hormone. RAYALDEE is approved in the U.S. to treat SHPT in adults with stage 3 or 4 CKD and vitamin D insufficiency.  It is not yet approved for patients with stage 5 CKD on dialysis therapy. OPKO Health launched RAYALDEE in the U.S. in November 2016.

About OPKO Health, Inc.

 OPKO Health is a diversified healthcare company. In diagnostics, its BioReference Laboratories is the nation’s third largest clinical laboratory; GeneDx is a rapidly growing genetic testing business; the 4Kscore® prostate cancer test is used to confirm an elevated PSA to help decide about next steps such as prostate biopsy; Claros® 1 is a point-of-care diagnostics platform with a total PSA test approved by the FDA and testosterone as the most advanced test in development.  In our pharmaceutical pipeline, RAYALDEE, to treat secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease and vitamin D insufficiency, is our first pharmaceutical product to be marketed.  OPK88003, a once-weekly oxyntomodulin for type 2 diabetes and obesity recently reported positive data from a Phase 2 clinical trial.  It’s among a new class of GLP-1/glucagon receptor dual agonists.  OPK88004, a SARM (selective androgen receptor modulator) is currently being studied for various indications.  The Company’s most advanced product utilizing its CTP technology, a once-weekly human growth hormone for injection, is in Phase 3 trials, and is partnered with Pfizer.  OPKO also has research, development, production and distribution facilities abroad.  More information is available at www.opko.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

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 financial performance and benefits of the collaboration with SOMOS, whether the collaboration will streamline patient care, offer communication efficiencies between BioReference and SOMOS, and improve patient outcomes while decreasing the overall cost of care, 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 the OPKO Health, Inc. Annual Reports on Form 10-K filed and to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the success of the relationship with SOMOS. 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.

Contacts:

LHA Investor Relations
Miriam Weber Miller, 212-838-3777
MMiller@lhai.com

or

Bruce Voss, 310-691-7100
bvoss@lhai.com

Source: OPKO Health, Inc.

Released July 17, 2019