Opko Health Inc (OPK)

[dshade]

"Rayaldy is currently the only product of its type in development by any drug company, as far as I am aware. Currently available prescription vitamin D hormone therapies have significant limitations or side effects, something not seen with Rayaldy. Physicians will soon have a choice: tell their patients to go to the corner drug store to buy OTC vitamin D or prescribe the more potent and reliable and less degradable Rayaldy.

Again, it is important to realize that steroid hormones like calcitriol and corticosteroids have as many mechanisms of action as genes they regulate. The number of genes directly regulated by corticosteroids is estimated to be around 100, almost all having to do with inflammation. However, calcitriol regulates 1,000 human genes. Calcitriol's genetic mechanism of action not only includes anti-inflammatory actions, but extends to mechanisms involving DNA repair, anti-autoimmune actions, mechanisms involving brain development and functioning, profound effects on the immune system, cardiovascular functioning, lung function, liver function, and pancreatic function, to name a few.

In my opinion, sales of Rayaldy-like drugs will eventually easily outstrip the sales of corticosteroids."


John Jacob Cannell