Notable Insider Trading: Opko Health Inc.

Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) insider has recently participated in insider trading activity. CEO & Chairman, FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL bought 21,800 shares for $172,671 via one transaction Feb 11. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 159,054,943 shares in total, priced at $1254943500.27 as of Friday. Another notable insider trading was done by the same insider on Feb 08. FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL acquired 45,300 shares at an average price of $7.68 for a total of $ 348,123. Moreover, this insider carried out a buy of 18,000 shares at $XX each on Feb 05. The transaction amounted to $ 148,233. The insider also bought 5,400 shares for $ 42,739 through one transaction Feb 04.

The stock has experienced a total of 41 insider trades in the past three months. These trades include 2 sell activities and 39 buy trades. Furthermore, over the past 12 months, the stock was traded 1440 times by insiders. In 7 of these trades, the insider was a seller while an employee of the company was the buyer in just 133 instances.

On February 12, 2016 Xenetic Biosciences, Inc. (XBIO), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing next-generation biologic drugs and novel oncology therapeutics announced that OPKO Health, Inc. (OPK) has acquired an approximate 6.3% interest in Xenetic.

Commenting on the investment in Xenetic, Dr. Phillip Frost, CEO and Chairman of OPKO Health, Inc., stated, “Xenetic has many novel technologies that address unmet needs in various orphan cancer indications, and we believe the science and the clinical strategy have the promise to create significant shareholder value.”

Scott Maguire, President and Chief Executive Officer of Xenetic commented, “We are proud to have OPKO Health as one of our largest shareholders joining our other strategic shareholders, Baxalta and Serum Institute of India. Dr. Frost has an outstanding track record in creating shareholder value in our industry.”

OPKO Health, Inc. is a diversified healthcare company that seeks to establish industry-leading positions in large, rapidly growing markets. OPKO’s diagnostics business includes Bio-Reference Laboratories, the nation’s third-largest clinical laboratory with a core genetic testing business and a 420-person sales force to drive growth and leverage new products, including the 4Kscore® prostate cancer test and the Claros®1 in-office immunoassay platform. OPKO’s pharmaceutical business features Rayaldee™, a treatment for SHPT in stage 3-4 CKD patients with vitamin D insufficiency (March 29, 2016 PDUFA date) and VARUBI™ for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (oral formulation launched by partner Tesaro, IV formulation in Phase 3).