March 23, 2015 9:06am EDT
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MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE: OPK) announced today that SciVac Ltd.
("SciVac"), an Israeli entity in which OPKO has a forty-five percent
ownership interest, has entered into an agreement pursuant to which
Levon Resources Ltd. (LVN.TO)(OTC:LVNVF)(LO9.F) will acquire 100% of the
issued and outstanding ordinary shares of SciVac by way of a
court-approved plan of arrangement (the “Arrangement”). Upon closing,
Levon intends to change its name to SciVac Inc. (“New SciVac”), and the
current officers and directors of SciVac will be the officers and
directors of New SciVac post-closing. The current owners of SciVac will
own 68.4% of the outstanding shares of New SciVac post-closing, with
OPKO owning approximately 30% of the outstanding shares.
New SciVac will retain CAD $27 million in cash following the
transaction. All other assets and other liabilities of the current Levon
business are being transferred to a newly formed company to be owned
100% by the current Levon shareholders.
“This transaction provides capital to SciVac and should further our goal
of expanding market opportunities for SciVac products in development,
including Sci-B-Vac™, a next generation hepatitis B vaccine which has
already been approved in several countries, including Israel, where it
has been provided to thousands of newborn children,” said Phillip Frost,
Chairman and CEO of OPKO. “SciVac intends to pursue marketing approvals
for Sci-B-Vac in the United States and other territories worldwide,
initially focusing on at-risk populations such as End-Stage Renal
Disease and HIV patients. SciVac also expects to develop a pipeline of
other therapeutics to address various diseases with significant unmet
medical needs.”
About SciVac Ltd.
SciVac Ltd., headquartered in Rehovot, Israel, is in the business of
developing, producing and marketing biological products for human
healthcare. SciVac’s flagship product, Sci-B-Vac, is a recombinant
mammalian cell produced next generation vaccine which has in multiple
clinical studies demonstrated enhanced antibody response in a population
of documented non and low-responders for which conventional hepatitis B
vaccines do not elicit adequate antibody production. In addition,
studies indicate that the vaccine induces rapid seroprotection and can
be used for immunotherapy of chronic hepatitis B. Sci-B-Vac is currently
marketed in Israel and has received marketing authorizations in several
countries.
SciVac also offers contract development and manufacturing services to
the life sciences and biotechnology markets.
About OPKO Health, Inc.
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.
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 the acquisition and the benefits
of the transaction with Levon, expectations regarding Sci-B-Vac, whether
we will be successful in expanding market opportunities for SciVac and
obtain marketing approval in the U.S. and other territories, 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, that the various conditions to the closing of the
transaction may not be met, and 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.
Steven D. Rubin or Adam Logal, 305-575-4100
Source: OPKO Health, Inc.
Released March 23, 2015
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