Annual meeting on June 25

Hi Jake. I don't totally disagree with you. My main point is that I am used to Frost and I think he is just an older version of the earlier Frost. His style is his style. All the well thought out queries in the world won't change that, with all due respect to dnr08 and others. Who knows, maybe he will answer some of our questions? As a Monday morning quarterback I would have sold at the top.  Also I would not have added to my original position which was about $1 per share.    My message is that he appears to be operating the same as always.....but admittedly in a NEW environment. I said "Let Frost be Frost" facetiously ....because the truth is, he has the power over OPK to be himself. If this doesn't pan out I will be as disappointed as anyone here except those who will lose a lot more. The amount I have here is way too much. But I knew Frost and I know biotech (or whatever we are) volatility. I did not foresee the problems that we all know about. Much of it could be bad luck, bad timing, or incompetence. As for your last sentence, I don't know if Frost is his own muse or open to suggestions. We really don't know who, if anyone, he confides in. I have good reason to believe he is quite aware of investor sentiment. I think he is trying to negotiate the changing currents, he knows more about the company than we do and he definitely doesn't want failure to be his legacy. Regards, Miami

Well of course there are many duties required of a CEO. For me, the ultimate responsibility of that role, in a public company, is to return value to shareholders. Which gets translated to market value and therefore PPS.

According to the Corporate Finance Institute (sounds official right?):

A CEO, which stands for Chief Executive Officer, is the highest-ranking individual in a company or organization. The CEO is responsible for the overall success of a business entity or other organization and for making top-level managerial decisions. They may ask for input on major decisions, but they are the ultimate authority in making final decisions. There are other titles for CEOs, such as chief executive, president, and managing director.


The Chief Executive Officer reports directly to, and is accountable to, the Board of Directors for the performance of a company. The Board of Directors (BoD) is a group of individuals who are elected to represent the shareholders of the company. The CEO often sits on the board and, in some cases, she or he is the chairperson.


Roles and Responsibilities of the CEO

In addition to the overall success of an organization or company, the CEO is responsible for leading the development and execution of long-term strategies, with the goal of increasing shareholder value.

There is no standardized list of the roles and responsibilities of a chief executive officer. The typical duties, responsibilities, and job description of a CEO include:

Communicating, on behalf of the company, with shareholders, government entities, and the public
Leading the development of the company’s short- and long-term strategy
Creating and implementing the company or organization’s vision and mission
Evaluating the work of other executive leaders within the company, including directors, vice presidents, and presidents
Maintaining awareness of the competitive market landscape, expansion opportunities, industry developments, etc.
Ensuring that the company maintains high social responsibility wherever it does business
Assessing risks to the company and ensuring they are monitored and minimized
Setting strategic goals and making sure they are measurable and describable


Basic Corporate Structure of a Company

To look after the interests of shareholders, many firms adopt a two-tier corporate hierarchy – the first tier being the Board of Directors and the second tier being the company’s upper management (COO, CEO, CFO).

Elected by shareholders are the Board of Directors – the ultimate governing authority of the company. The Board of Directors selects the Chairperson and CEO. With the recommendation of the CEO, the Board of Directors also elects the COO – Chief Operating Officer – and CFO – Chief Financial Officer.


The Difference Between a CEO and Chairperson of the Board

There should not be any confusion between the role of a CEO and that of a Chairperson of the Board. The CEO is the top operational decision-maker at a company, while the Chairperson of the Board is responsible for protecting the investors’ interests and for overseeing the company as a whole. The Board of Directors usually meets several times a year to set the company’s long-term goals, review financial results, evaluate the performance of executives and managers, and vote on strategic decisions proposed by the chief executive.

The Chairperson of the Board is technically superior to the Chief Executive Officer, as he or she cannot make major moves without the approval of the board. The chairperson could essentially become the ultimate boss of the company or organization. However, this is rare, as most board chairpersons are not so directly involved in day-to-day business operations, leaving the CEO with flexibility in running the company.




Reasons to Separate the CEO and Chairperson Positions

In some cases, the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Board are held by the same person. Most organizations and companies permit the Chief Executive Officer to become the chairperson, which can cause conflict of interest problems.

The two examples below show how a conflict of interest problem can arise if both positions are held by the same person:

The Board of Directors votes on increasing executive pay. If the Chief Executive Officer is also the chairperson, a conflict of interest arises because he would be voting on her/his own compensation.
The Board of Directors is responsible for evaluating the performance of executives such as the CEO. If the Chief Executive Officer also holds the position of Chairperson, she or he exercises the power to decide if her/his performance is satisfactory.
Therefore, good corporate governance usually prescribes a separation of duties between the Chief Executive Officer and the Chairperson of the Board. In the UK and other countries, it is forbidden by law for the CEO and Chairman of the Board to be the same person.



Yes, the above is largely boilerplate. But, the essence rings quite true. And, to Miami's points about Frost, and Jake's eloquent and incisive response, I would only say two things. First, many of the guidelines above are, sadly, not followed by Opko/Dr Frost....which is one and the same, and which therefore presents many challenges for non-insider owners of the company. Second, cute as he is, successful as he's been, and as wealthy as he's become, just because this is how he does things, well, it doesn't make it right, or correct. The frustrating thing for me as an investor is simply that with PF, it appears to be one way, and one way only. Clearly that's not a sound method to run a public enterprise. The verdict of the market is crystal clear in the aftermath of the events of the fall of 2018. And it's just very unfortunate. Because it doesn't HAVE to be this way.

You didn't miss much other than a decent Q&A. I like the response to being profitable. They couched it will be dependent on continued COVID testing and Milestone/Royalties from Somatrogon.

Once thing they cleared up for me: Milestones are based on approval in U.S, E.U, and Japan. So, no milestones coming for a bit since they have not filed yet. But, it was unclear when royalties would start. Upon approval like milestone, or earlier? Can anyone add color? I may send a email to IR.

Right, that is what I was confirming. There was some discussion here from myself and others wondering if milestone would be awarded for other than approval. As in, sooner upon the FDA accepting the BLA application prior to approval. They confirmed today it is based on approval in US, EU, and Japan; three different and distinct milestone payments.

IR answered my question on royalties, which I already knew. Send me to the 10Q which I already read. I was wondering if it might start earlier.

"...we are eligible to receive initial tiered royalty payments associated with the commercialization of hGH-CTP for adult GHD with percentage rates ranging from the high teens to mid-twenties. Upon the launch of hGH-CTP for pediatric GHD in certain major markets, the royalties will transition to regional, tiered gross profit sharing for both hGH-CTP and Pfizer’s Genotropin®. So, upon launch. OK, hope that speed is of the essence to PFE but, in my opinion, they do have an incentive to strategically sandbag a bit.

One other thing, I heard that there are additional tests being developed and considerations for Claros. Wonderful news. But why take it out of the IR presentation of the companies products? Is it so far away to have little material impact? Just weird.

It's not an If/then condition. It's a formula with several costs. There will be a large initial out of pocket cost to start marketing somatrogon and paying OPK royalties on genotropin. Their margin immediately goes down the day they launch it. If that high initial cost is not projected to be offset by equally or near equal revenue on Somatrogon, they may think that slowing the launch down is in their best interest. Then again, if ASND's product is going to market then they may weigh that the cost is worth it. I don't know, I didn't propose that it is what they are planning to do, only that there was incentive. The incentive may not be worth it. It is a business decision that only PFE can decide.