OPKO Health, Inc. Invests in ChromaDex® Corp.
ChromaDex Grants OPKO Marketing Rights for Latin America
MIAMI & IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- OPKO Health, Inc. and ChromaDex Corporation (OTCBB: CDXC) announced today they have entered into a strategic alliance pursuant to which ChromaDex has licensed to OPKO all of its new product offerings and health care technologies for distribution and business development throughout all of Latin America. The initial products to be commercialized are BluScience™ (www.bluscience.com), ChromaDex's recently launched line of dietary supplements, as well as ChromaDex's proprietary pterostilbene, branded as pTeroPure® (www.pteropure.com). OPKO recently made a $1,000,000 investment in ChromaDex as a participant in a private placement of 4,993,329 shares of ChromaDex common stock.
Dr. Phillip Frost, OPKO's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "This new agreement with ChromaDex will utilize OPKO's extensive marketing and sales experience in Latin America to commercialize ChromaDex's products and technologies throughout the region. We are enthusiastic about pTeroPure®, one of the most promising natural ingredients to be introduced in some time, as it will help with OPKO's strategy of introducing interesting new products in rapidly growing markets."
Commenting on the announcement, Jeffrey Himmel, CEO of ChromaDex stated, "Partnering with OPKO provides a unique opportunity for ChromaDex. OPKO's resources and capabilities in Latin America make it an ideal partner. We see Latin America as a bright spot with great long-term economic prospects. The alliance with OPKO is the perfect platform to exploit our new product offerings and healthcare technologies."
ChromaDex recently launched BluScience™ (www.bluscience.com), an innovative line of dietary supplements. The novel ingredient in BluScience™ is pterostilbene, branded as pTeroPure® (www.pteropure.com), named the 2010 North American Most Promising Ingredient of the Year by the independent research company, Frost & Sullivan. pTeroPure® is a proprietary, nature-identical formulation of the antioxidant compound pterostilbene, found naturally in blueberries. Pterostilbene has superior biological activity, better oral bioavailability and is metabolized more slowly in the body than other polyphenols (antioxidant phytochemicals that tend to prevent or neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals), allowing more time for its antioxidant activities to act. Pterostilbene has shown promise for supporting cardiovascular health, cognitive function and anti-aging*. However, the amount of pterostilbene present in a typical serving of blueberries is a tiny fraction of the amount needed to realize its benefits.
About OPKO Health:
OPKO is a multi-national biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company that seeks to establish industry-leading positions in large and rapidly growing medical markets by leveraging its discovery, development and commercialization expertise and novel and proprietary technologies.
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About ChromaDex®:
ChromaDex, Inc. is an innovative natural products company that provides proprietary, science-based solutions and ingredients to the dietary supplement, food & beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The company has an expanding pipeline of new ingredients, including its pTeroPure® pterostilbene for which it has worldwide, exclusive patent rights pending. The company recently launched its BluScience™ line of dietary supplements, now available at Drugstore.com. Capitalizing on the diverse potential applications of the product, ChromaDex is also developing pTeroPure for the skincare and pharmaceutical markets, among others. pTeroPure is currently being studied in a human clinical trial at the University of Mississippi.
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