On August 13, OPKO Health (NASDAQ:OPK) expanded its financing relationship with HealthCare Royalty, a business of KKR, issuing an additional $125 million in senior secured notes secured by the royalty stream tied to mazdutide, the GLP-1 drug OPKO licensed to Eli Lilly and now collects royalties on in China. The notes mature in 2044, matching the maturity of OPKO's original HCRx notes, and hand the company fresh capital without selling a single new share.
Cash Without Giving Up The Upside
The structure is the interesting part. Total payments under the expanded deal are capped at 1.5 times the amount OPKO actually receives, and once that cap is hit, OPKO keeps the future royalty economics on that stream for itself. Mazdutide is commercialized in China by Innovent Biologics, and OPKO earns royalties on those sales through its Eli Lilly license, having recorded its first mazdutide royalty revenue in 2025 after the drug's China launch. CEO Phillip Frost called mazdutide "a promising opportunity in China" within OPKO's partnered portfolio.
The rest of the business is also trending in the right direction. On July 27, OPKO reported second-quarter revenue of $163.5 million, up from $156.8 m...