OPKO is a takeover target and this is not only my opinion, as Scion capital has repeatedly claimed the company is mismanaged and that Scion is hunting for investment capital to bring in new management through a takeover. OPKO’s core business is running laboratory tests through their Bioreference Labs, which has done well during the pandemic through sales of Covid testing. OPKO is slowly running a vitamin D derivative trial on Rayaldee, for the treatment of Covid-19. Giving the Delta variant and a, “fast- changing environment” as claimed by Curevac following their failed Covid vaccine trial. The question remains if the vaccine designs will continue to lag the evolution of new strains.
CureVac said the trial involved about 40,000 people in 10 countries and that preliminary data showed the vaccine candidate is a poor match against a “fast changing environment” of at least 29 COVID-19 variants, with the original coronavirus strain “almost completely absent.
Market Watch article June 17, 2021
The story continues to unfold with vaccines still in phase 3 trial for Moderna and Pfizer as we look for long term safety data to be reported as the final phase 3 trial data can be expected in 2023 or 2024. Will this make a case for continued testing? If so this would make OPKO an increasingly attractive buyout target. OPKO already has contracts to do testing for NBA, NHL, and the New York public school system. However, fast-at home antigen test may become popular and reduce the demand for PCR done in a lab. This trend, should it occur, would pose a serious threat to OPKO’s total revenue.
