MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OPKO Health, Inc. (NYSE: OPK) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a forty-five percent stake in a private Israeli company that produces a third-generation hepatitis B vaccine (“Sci-B-Vac”) in its state of the art biologics manufacturing facility in Rehovot. The Sci-B-Vac is a recombinant mammalian cell produced next generation vaccine which has in multiple clinical studies demonstrated enhanced antibody response in a population of documented non and low-responders for which conventional hepatitis B vaccines do not elicit adequate antibody production. In addition, studies indicate that the vaccine induces rapid seroprotection and can be used for immunotherapy of chronic hepatitis B. Sci-B-Vac is currently marketed in Israel and has received marketing authorizations in several countries.
