Dallas, Texas 04/16/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) entered April with a slew of announcements regarding the refurbishments that are currently on at the pharma and diagnostic firm. The appointment which has attracted the most headlines is the firm replacing its Chief Financial Officer with another company veteran. It’s Chief Accounting Officer and Treasurer Adam Logal has been promoted into the role of CFO and will also hold the title of Senior Vice President. Its outgoing CFO Juan F. Rodriguez has been retained as a consultant in order to effect a smooth transition for the new incumbent.
Parallaley the drug maker has carved out a separate new unit nomenclated as the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient and Chemical Development Division to focus on discovering new chemical compounds for its new drug development engine and brought in industry veteran Arie Gutman Ph.D as the unit Chief Executive Officer.
Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Phillip Frost M.D. in his introductory note about the new CFO has been quoted to have said that, “Adam has been a key leader in our organization since our inception in 2007. His knowledge of our business, versatility as a finance leader and his strategic insights are valued by leaders across the Company. I am delighted that Adam will continue to help lead the Company through our near term commercial opportunities and help position us for long-term success.”
The setting up of a standalone unit Pharmaceutical Ingredient and Chemical Development Unit under the leadership of Dr. Gutman is being seen by analysts as an important move by the drug firm which is intended to help generate a continuous pipeline of new drug compounds which could further be developed into viable drug candidates by the bio tech firm’s R&D unit. Dr. Gutman is a industry veteran and came into the company when Opko Health Inc. (NYSE:OPK) bought out FineTech Pharmaceutical Ltd. in 2011.