Opko Health Inc (OPK)

[someconcerns]

DS,

From an old May 2013 article on Prolor, before OPK acquired it:

"What to Know About Prolor

If you are not aware about Prolor Biotech, here is a quick summary of what you need to know. Prolor specializes in long-acting versions of already approved therapeutic proteins. Prolor currently has three major market indications it wishes to address with its technology and each addressing a sizeable market. These market indications include growth disorders ($3 billion), hemophilia (about $2 billion), and type 2 diabetes / obesity ($2 billion).

These are all sizable market opportunities and to top it off; Prolor offers a significant advantage to current once-a-day treatments. For instance, their once-a-week human growth hormone (hGH-CTP) not only offers convenience for both patients and doctors, but also has an excellent safety profile due the simplicity and nature of the protein. CTP (the added protein to increase longevity) offers a considerable array of future applications. CTP also posses limited risk of immunological or toxic events, while still maintaining biological activity of the overall protein within the bloodstream.

Currently, hGH-CTP for adults is expected to move into phase III trials by the end of 2013. Likewise, the children indication of hGH-CTP phase II is currently ongoing. There are also two products in phase I trials: GLP-1, which is used in the treatment of type II diabetes and factors VIIa and IX; both used in the treatment of Hemophilia.

Prolor also isn't the first/only to apply CTP to various proteins. In fact, after CTP's discovery at Washington University of St. Louis, the technology was exclusively licensed off to Prolor and Merck (MRK). Prolor has rights to basically everything else except; thyroid stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, and aforementioned follicle stimulating hormone. Merck received approval in Europe for their drug Elonva® (corifollitropin alfa injection) back in 2010 and proved the legitimacy and applicability of CTP due to the ability to initiate and sustain multiple follicular growth for an entire week; replacing the need for daily injections. The overall point is that Prolor has a lot of potential as they move forward and their hGH-CTP has the ability to capture a sizable chunk of the growth disorder market; positioning Prolor as a formidable biobetter company."

Source:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1391461-a-sweeter-deal-on-the-horizon-for-prolor-biotech