Opko Health, Inc. Acquires Biotechnology Company with Unique Platform Technology to Develop New Drugs

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE Amex: OPK) has acquired CURNA, Inc., a privately held company based in Jupiter, Florida, engaged in the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of a wide variety of illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, metabolic disorders and genetic anomalies. Unlike its competitors in the field of oligonucleotide therapeutics, CURNA’s broad platform technology is based on the up-regulation of protein production through interference with non-coding RNA’s (natural antisense). This strategy is unique and contrasts with established approaches which down-regulate protein production. CURNA has designed a novel type of therapeutic modality, termed AntagoNAT, and has validated this approach for up-regulation of several therapeutically relevant proteins. CURNA’s technology, exclusively licensed from The Scripps Research Institute, was developed by Dr. Claes Wahlestedt, a founder of CURNA. CURNA has developed and patented molecules which increase the production of over 90 key proteins involved in a large number of individual diseases.