- Dr. Elias Zerhouni, ModeX Chairman, Former Head of Global Research and Development at Sanofi and Former Director of the National Institutes of Health, appointed Chairman and Vice Chairman of the OPKO Board of Directors
- Dr. Gary Nabel, President and CEO of ModeX, former chief scientific officer at Sanofi and founder of the Center for Vaccine Research of the National Institutes of Health, has joined OPKO as Chief Innovation Officer and a member of the OPKO Board of Directors.
- Alexis Borissi, ModeX’s chief independent director and leading biotech entrepreneur and investor, joins OPKO’s Board of Directors
The deal will be discussed during OPKO’s Q1 2022 conference call today at 4:30 PM ET
MIAMI, May 09, 2022 (The Globe Newswire) – OPKO Health, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPK)Today, the multinational biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company announced its acquisition of ModeX Therapeutics, Inc. , a private biotechnology company focused on developing innovative, multi-specific immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. OPKO has acquired ModeX for $300 million in OPKO common stock.
Founded in October 2020 and headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, ModeX Therapeutics has developed highly flexible multispecies antibody technology platforms with broad targeting, functionality, simpler manufacturing capabilities, and better privacy and security, providing significant differentiation from competing platforms. The design of these multiple properties is amenable to gene-dependent delivery by mRNA or DNA vectors. The ModeX family of products includes cancer immunotherapies that combine four properties into a single protein to improve targeting and immune killing, as well as masking or “stealing” technology to improve tumor-specific killing and reduce side effects. For viral diseases, the main targets of a broad and potent group of polyclonal antibodies include HIV and SARS-CoV-2. A vaccine for the Epstein-Barr virus is also under development.
“The acquisition of ModeX Therapeutics significantly expands our technology foundation and expands our product pipeline to include multifunctional, multifunctional antibodies focused on a range of cancers and infectious diseases, with potential for application to other therapeutic areas. We believe the promise of better outcomes for patients treated with these Polyspecific antibodies represent a new generation of large molecule therapies and the next chapter in OPKO,” said Philip Frost, MD, Chairman and CEO of OPKO. We welcome MODEX co-founders Dr. Zerhouni and Dr. Nabeul, as well as Alexis Borissi to our Board of Directors, and Dr. Zerhouni and Dr. Nabeul to OPKO’s Executive Management Team. ModeX’s executive team brings to OPKO a wealth of experience, knowledge and industry contacts, which we expect will have a tremendous long-term positive impact on OPKO as we develop their technology and product pipelines and take advantage of potential synergies with our existing portfolio in diagnostics and therapeutics. “
Elias Zerhouni, Managing Director, Co-Founder and Chairman of ModeX, has been appointed President and Vice Chairman of the OPKO Board of Directors. Dr. Zerhouni has extensive experience in academia, government and industry as a leading authority on emerging trends and issues in medical care and biomedical research and development. A medical scientist with an academic background in imaging and biomedical engineering, Dr. Zerhouni most recently served as Head of Global Research and Development and Executive Vice President of Sanofi. Dr. Zerhouni has also served as Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Senior Fellow for Global Health Research at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, United States Presidential Envoy for Science and Technology, and Professor and Chair of the Russell H. Morgan Division. Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, Executive Vice Dean and Dean of Research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Zerhouni has been elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering. He is a board member of the Lasker Foundation, the NIH Foundation, and the Davos Alzheimer Collaborative and Research! America. He was awarded the 2017 Scripps Executive Award for the Pharmaceutical Industry and the French Legion of Honor in 2008. He has been a Director of Danaher since 2009.
“Being a part of OPKO represents a transformative opportunity for both companies. We expect ModeX’s product pipeline that focuses on unmet needs in oncology and infectious diseases to accelerate the development of our innovative technologies, and will also benefit from synergies with OPKO’s programs,” said Dr. Zerhouni. “ModeX has been quietly operating since it was founded 18 months ago based on more than 10 years of previous foundational work. We have assembled a world-class executive team with outstanding leadership experience in the public and private sectors to advance our programs. Our lead drug candidate is already in the clinic while it is expected to Many other patients are entering the late preclinical stages of clinical development in 2023. The leadership’s vision and enthusiasm have seduced us to join OPKO to advance our joint potential for breakthrough innovations.”
Gary Nabel, MD, Ph.D. , co-founder, president and CEO of ModeX, is OPKO’s Chief Innovation Officer and joins OPKO’s Board of Directors. Dr. Noble, a renowned virologist and immunologist, served as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Sanofi where he directed the innovative laboratory that developed specific triple products now in early clinical development. He is the founding director of the National Institutes of Health’s Vaccine Research Center, which works on vaccines and broad-based neutralizing antibodies against HIV, influenza, SARS, Ebola, chikungunya virus, and Epstein-Barr virus. He was previously an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Michigan. In recognition of his expertise at the forefront of virology, immunology, gene therapy, and molecular biology, Dr. Nabeul was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, is a Fellow of the American Association of Physicians and the American Academy of Arts Sciences, and was the recipient of the Geoffrey Beene Builders of Science Award from Research! America.
Alexis Borisy, chief independent director of ModeX, has joined OPKO’s board of directors. Mr. Borysi is a leading biotechnology entrepreneur and investor with more than 25 years of experience, including founding, CEO and/or Chairman of nine Nasdaq-listed companies. He has co-founded and served as either the CEO or Chairman of the Board of Directors of Blueprint Medicines, Foundation Medicine, Relay Therapeutics, Tango Therapeutics, Celsius Therapeutics, and CombinatoRx.
With the addition of Dr. Zerhouni, Dr. Nabil and Mr. Borissi to the OPKO Board of Directors, the number of board members increases to 13.
Conference information and webcast
Management will discuss this transaction and answer questions during the company’s Q1 2022 conference call scheduled to be held today at 4:30 PM ET. Participants can pre-register for the conference call using this link. Callers who pre-register will be given a unique PIN code for instant access to the call and bypass the live operator. Participants can register at any time, including up to and after the start of the call. Those unable to pre-register can participate by calling (866) 777-2509 (US) or (412) 317-5413 (international). A webcast of the call can also be accessed on OPKO’s Investor Relations page and here.
A phone replay will be available until May 16, 2022 by calling (877) 344-7529 (US) or (412) 317-0088 (international) and providing the passcode 6587528. The web replay will be available starting approximately one hour after completion. From the live conference call here.
About OPKO Health, Inc.
OPKO is a multinational biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that seeks to create industry-leading positions in large, fast-growing markets by leveraging its expertise in the discovery, development, and commercialization of new 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 can be identified with words such as “expects,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “may,” “expect,” “believe,” “should,” “intend,” “estimate,” and other words with a similar meaning, including statements regarding product development efforts In addition to other non-historical statements, including statements regarding our expectations, products, beliefs, or intentions regarding the acquisition of ModeX, expected future clinical developments, synergies, benefits and opportunities for the transaction, the potential for ModeX products and pipelines, and any other statements regarding OPKO and ModeX expectations. future, beliefs, plans, candidate products, objectives, financial conditions, assumptions, events, or future performance. Many factors could cause our actual activities or results to differ materially from the activities and results expected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include those described in our annual reports on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and under the heading “Risk Factors” in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, forward-looking statements may also be adversely affected by general market factors, competitive product development, product availability, federal and state regulation and legislation, the regulatory process for new products and indices, manufacturing issues that may arise, patent and litigation situations, among other factors. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date such statements are made, and we undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements. It is our intention that all forward-looking statements will be subject to the safe harbor provisions of the PSLRA.
Contacts:
Investor Relations at LHA
Yvonne Briggs, 310-691-7100
ybriggs@lhai.com
or
Bruce Voss, 310-691-7100
bvoss@lhai.com
Source: OPKO Health, Inc.
Released May 9, 2022
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