OPKO To Acquire FineTech

OPKO Health has entered into an agreement to acquire FineTech Pharmaceutical, an Israeli company that develops and produces high value, high potency APIs. The transaction is expected to close on December 29, 2011. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FineTech possesses proprietary technology and know-how in several important areas of organic synthesis. The company offers a full range of services from paper chemistry and laboratory scale development to pilot scale and commercial production, and is staffed with a team of chemists with experience in synthetic and analytical chemistry, as well as expertise in multi-step syntheses, new polymorph development, and chiral and prostaglandin chemistry. FineTech’s business model has been to develop complex and problematic APIs for sale or license to pharmaceutical companies in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Israel.

”This acquisition is a good strategic fit for OPKO,” said Phillip Frost, M.D., OPKO’s chairman and chief executive officer. “FineTech’s significant know-how and experience with analytical chemistry and organic syntheses, together with its production capabilities, will play a valuable role in the development of OPKO’s pipeline of proprietary peptoids and other molecules for diagnostic and therapeutic products, while providing revenues and profits.”

“My colleagues and I are very excited to become part of the OPKO family and look forward to the opportunities and challenges that await us,” said Dr. Arie L. Gutman, president and chief executive officer of FineTech. “We expect continued growth of revenues and profits from existing products and those in development. Our ability to develop novel processes for making complex synthetic molecules will make us a very productive and valued contributor to the OPKO business.” Following the acquisition, Dr. Gutman will continue to serve as CEO of FineTech.