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(tm), 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.
CONTACT
OPKO Health, Inc.
Steven D. Rubin or Adam Logal, 305-575-4100
Original Article: http://www.levon.com/s/update.asp?ReportID=701158
