OPKO Health's BioReference Laboratories Launches COVID-19 Antibody Screening for New York City Residents

ELMWOOD PARK, N.J., May 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BioReference Laboratories, Inc., an OPKO Health company (NASDAQ:OPK), today announced the launch of COVID-19 antibody screening available to New York City residents in partnership with New York City Health and Hospital Corporation (NYC Health + Hospitals). Testing will initially be performed for 140,000 residents at five locations across all five boroughs, with more testing sites to open in the next several weeks. Test results will be available through BioReference's Patient Portal, accessible by smartphone, tablet, desktop or traditional US Mail and become available within 1-3 days, on average.

"So many New Yorkers are wondering whether they've had the virus, or if they've exposed their own families," said Mayor Bill de Blasio during a press announcement. "While antibody tests are not a fix-all solution, they will give our communities the knowledge they need to help us defeat this virus together."

"BioReference is supporting the city in its epidemiology studies of the presence of COVID-19 throughout large segments of the New York City population," said Jon R. Cohen, M.D., Executive Chairman of BioReference Laboratories. "For New York, a city that has been seriously impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this type of information will be of great value in helping healthcare professionals to analyze the presence and progression of the disease in order to identify at risk populations for possible early intervention." 

Antibody screening is not intended to detect an active COVID-19 infection and individuals experiencing symptoms of an active COVID-19 infection should not visit these screening sites, which are not equipped to collect respiratory specimens for molecular COVID-19 diagnostic testing. Individuals experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are encouraged to contact their healthcare providers.

For more information, visit https://www.bioreference.com/coronavirus.

About BioReference Laboratories, Inc.
BioReference provides comprehensive testing to physicians, clinics, hospitals, employers, government units, correctional institutions and medical groups. The company is in network with the five largest health plans in the United States, operates a network of 11 laboratory locations, and is backed by a medical staff of more than 120 MD, PhD and other professional level clinicians and scientists. For more information, visit www.bioreference.com.

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. For more information, visit 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 BioReference's antibody screening test, the availability of the test and the turnaround time for test results, the expected daily capacity for testing, and the actual demand for our test, 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. In addition, forward-looking statements may also be adversely affected by equipment and reagent shortages, 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

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SOURCE BioReference Laboratories, Inc.