September 29, 2014 10:02am EDT
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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
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