Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) has been bestowed upon with the honor of having its “4Kscore Test” included in the European Association of Urology guidelines for prostate cancer. What is even more significant is the fact that the 4Kscore was specified as having greater specificity over the PSA test. Furthermore, Opko Health has also announced the appointment of Gregory Henderson M.D. as the president of Bio-Reference Labs. The decision is going to be effective immediately.
Dr. Henderson would be replacing Marc Grodman M.D, who had held the position, since the inception of BRL, in 1981. OPK acquired the laboratories in August 2015. Phillip Frost, the CEO of Opko Health, lauded the efforts of Dr. Grodman in building a billion dollar diagnostic lab, which continues to employ innovation, in order to stay ahead of its competition. Speaking about Dr. Henderson, the CEO stated that he brings a unique combination of technical and entrepreneurial experience to the business.
Dr. Henderson felt honored to join BRL and stated that BRL is uniquely positioned to accelerate the transformation of healthcare in the US. He particularly spoke about the new 4Kscore technology, which is known to reduce prostate biopsies, by 60%. Consequently, this lowers the cost of the test. The new president stated that the 4Kscore would serve as a template and roadmap for the future development of BRL.
The EAU Prostate Cancer guidelines panel is a group of specialists in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment. The decision to include the 4Kscore in the new guidelines indicates that the panel believes that the evidence from studies conducted on the test, is more than sufficient to classify the test as safe and effective for patients. The 4Kscore tests had been conducted on 22,000 patients, with the results being published in at least 12-peer reviewed journals. Furthermore, the 4Kscore is the only test that can accurately identify a patient’s risk of aggressive cancer.
Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) had a trade volume of 3.49 million and lost 3.21% during the March 15 trading session, to reach a close at $9.94.
