Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

In connection with our acquisitions of CURNA, OPKO Diagnostics and OPKO Renal, we agreed to pay future consideration to the sellers upon the achievement of certain events. As a result, as of September 30, 2022, we recorded $1.7 million as contingent consideration, with $1.7 million recorded within Other long-term liabilities in the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets. Refer to Note 5.

The Company and BioReference entered into (i) a settlement agreement (the “Settlement Agreement”), effective July 14, 2022, with the United States of America, acting through the United States Department of Justice and on behalf of the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (“OIG-HHS”), and the Defense Health Agency, acting on behalf of the TRICARE Program (collectively, the “United States”), the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (the “Commonwealth”), the State of Connecticut, (“Connecticut”), and the relator identified therein (“Relator”), and (ii) a Corporate Integrity Agreement, effective July 14, 2022 (the “CIA”), with the OIG-HHS, to resolve the investigation and related civil action concerning alleged fee-for-service claims for payment to the Medicare Program, the Medicaid Program, and the TRICARE Program (collectively, the “Federal Health Care Programs”).

Under the Settlement Agreement, the Company and BioReference admitted only to having made payments to certain physicians and physicians’ groups for office space rentals for amounts that exceeded fair market value, and that it did not report or return any such overpayments to the Federal Health Care Programs (the “Covered Conduct”). The Covered Conduct had commenced prior to the Company’s acquisition of BioReference in 2015. With the exception of the Covered Conduct, the Company and BioReference expressly deny the allegations of the Relator as set forth in her civil action. The Company has agreed to pay a total of $10,000,000 plus accrued interest from September 24, 2021 at a rate of 1.5% per annum (the “Settlement Amount”). The Settlement Amount consists of $9,853,958 payable to the United States, $141,041 payable to the Commonwealth and $5,001 payable to Connecticut, in each case plus interest and paid on July 18th, 2022. Conditioned upon payment of the Settlement Amount, the United States, the Commonwealth and Connecticut have agreed to release the Company and BioReference from any civil or administrative monetarily liability arising from the Covered Conduct. Upon payment of the Settlement Amount and the amount due under a separate agreement with the Relator, the Relator has agreed to release the Company and BioReference from any and all claims and potential claims. Further, in consideration of the obligations of the Company and BioReference in the Settlement Agreement and the CIA, the OIG-HHS has agreed to release and refrain from instituting any administrative action seeking to exclude the Company or BioReference from participating in Medicare, Medicaid or other Federal health care programs as a result of the Covered Conduct.

Under the CIA, which has a term of 5 years, BioReference is required to, among other things: (i) maintain a Compliance Officer, a Compliance Committee, board review and oversight of certain federal healthcare compliance matters, compliance

programs, and disclosure programs; (ii) provide management certifications and compliance training and education; (iii) establish written compliance policies and procedures to meet federal health care program requirements; (iv) create procedures designed to ensure compliance with the Anti-Kickback Statute and/or Stark Law; (v) engage an independent review organization to conduct a thorough review of BioReference’ s systems, policies, processes and procedures related to certain arrangements; (vi) implement a risk assessment and internal review process; (vii) establish a disclosure program for whistleblowers; and (viii) report or disclose certain events and physician payments. The Company’s or BioReference’s failure to comply with its obligations under the CIA could result in monetary penalties and the exclusion from participation in Federal Health Care Programs. The CIA does not apply to any of the Company’s subsidiaries other than BioReference, and its scope is generally limited to “focus arrangements”, which are those “arrangements” (as defined in the CIA) (i) between BioReference and any actual source or recipient of health care business or referrals and involves, directly or indirectly, the offer, payment, or provision of anything of value, or (ii) is between BioReference and any physician (or a physician’s immediate family member). Most of these measures have already been implemented at BioReference. Following its acquisition of BioReference, the Company and BioReference implemented robust compliance measures that substantially align with those actions required under the CIA.

GeneDx, Inc., the Company’s former subsidiary, received a letter dated May 26, 2022 from the Texas Medicaid Office of the Inspector General stating that certain testing provided by GeneDx was not eligible for reimbursement by the Texas Medicaid program, because the testing was considered non-covered by the Texas Medicaid program at the time the tests were performed and/or GeneDx did not hold the requisite CLIA subspecialty classifications for the testing. The Company is working with Sema4 to investigate these issues. Following recent communication, it appears the CLIA subspecialty classification issue has been addressed to the satisfaction of the Texas Medicaid Office of the Inspector General. The potential non-covered testing issue, however, remains under investigation. The Texas Medicaid Office has expressed in writing a potential repayment liability of approximately $784 thousand. At this time, the Company can express no opinion as to the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome or the range of potential loss in this matter.

On March 1, 2019, the Company received a Civil Investigative Demand (“CID”) from the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), Washington, DC. The CID sets forth document requests and interrogatories in connection with allegations that the Company and certain of its affiliates violated the False Claims Act and/or the Anti-Kickback Statute. On January 13, 2022, the Federal Government notified the U.S.D.C., Middle District Florida, Jacksonville Division, that it is declining to intervene in the matter but retains the right, via the Attorney General, to consent to any proposed dismissal of the action by the Court. On February 9, 2022, the States of Florida, Georgia, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts notified the U.S.D.C., Middle District Florida, Jacksonville Division, that they are declining to intervene in the matter. Notwithstanding the above declinations, on February 17, 2022, the Company was served with the Relator’s Summons and Complaint (“Complaint”), which had been previously sealed. The complaint alleges violations of the False Claims Act, the California Fraud Preventions Act, the Florida False Claims Act, the Massachusetts False Claims Act, the Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act, and illegal kickbacks. The Company is reviewing and assessing the allegations made in the Complaint and, at this point, has not determined whether there is any merit to these claims nor can it determine the extent of any potential liability. While management cannot predict the outcome of these matters at this time, the ultimate outcome could be material to our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

On November 26, 2019, BioReference received a CID from the DOJ. The CID stated that the DOJ was investigating whether BioReference paid unlawful remuneration to health care practitioners in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute or Stark law and thus submitted or caused to be submitted false claims to government health care programs in violation of the False Claims Act. The time period covered by the DOJ’s requests was January 1, 2011 through November 26, 2019. BioReference has fully cooperated with the DOJ by submitting the requested information and making current employees available for interviews, and the DOJ made a presentation to BioReference regarding its position. The parties have reached an agreement on the settlement amount, which is approximately $10 million, excluding attorney fees. As of December 31, 2021, $10.0 million was recorded in Accrued expenses, respectively, which the Company paid in full during during the third quarter of 2022.

On April 8, 2019, MabVax Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego against a number of individuals and entities, including the Company, Dr. Frost, Steven Rubin, the Company’s Executive Vice President-Administration, and an entity affiliated with Dr. Frost, based on the allegations raised in the SEC Complaint. The lawsuit seeks an award for actual and punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest; that the defendants be required to make full disclosure and accounting of their interests and transactions in plaintiff’s securities; costs of the suit, and reasonable attorney’s fees; and such other legal and equitable relief as the Court may deem proper under the circumstances. On January 31, 2022, plaintiffs entered into a confidential mutual release and settlement agreement with the Company, Dr. Frost, Frost Gamma Investment Trust, and Steve Rubin, which has been approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

On April 5, 2019, former shareholders of Claros Diagnostics, Inc. filed a complaint in the Chancery Court of Delaware against the Company, alleging among other things, that the Company breached the Agreement and Plan of Merger dated October 13, 2011 by and among the Company, Claros Merger Subsidiary, LLC and Claros Diagnostics, Inc. (the “Claros Merger Agreement”): (i) by failing to make a milestone payment of $2.375 million (payable in OPKO Common Stock) upon obtaining FDA approval of the Claros PSA test; and (ii) by repudiating its obligations to make additional future milestone payments as required under the Claros Merger Agreement. In January 2021, the Company and the shareholder representative entered into a settlement agreement providing, among other things, that the Company pay the shareholders $1.2 million, which the Company has paid in full.

From time to time, we may receive inquiries, document requests, CIDs or subpoenas from the Department of Justice, OCR, CMS, various payors and fiscal intermediaries, and other state and federal regulators regarding investigations, audits and reviews. In addition to the matters discussed in this note, we are currently responding to CIDs, subpoenas, payor audits, and document requests for various matters relating to our laboratory operations. Some pending or threatened proceedings against us may involve potentially substantial amounts as well as the possibility of civil, criminal, or administrative fines, penalties, or other sanctions, which could be material. Settlements of suits involving the types of issues that we routinely confront may require monetary payments as well as corporate integrity agreements. Additionally, qui tam or “whistleblower” actions initiated under the civil False Claims Act may be pending but placed under seal by the court to comply with the False Claims Act’s requirements for filing such suits. Also, from time to time, we may detect issues of non-compliance with federal healthcare laws pertaining to claims submission and reimbursement practices and/or financial relationships with physicians, among other things. We may avail ourselves of various mechanisms to address these issues, including participation in voluntary disclosure protocols. Participating in voluntary disclosure protocols can have the potential for significant settlement obligations or even enforcement action. The Company generally has cooperated, and intends to continue to cooperate, with appropriate regulatory authorities as and when investigations, audits and inquiries arise.

We are a party to other litigation in the ordinary course of business. While we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of legal matters, we accrue a liability for legal contingencies when we believe that it is both probable that a liability has been incurred and that we can reasonably estimate the amount of the loss. It’s reasonably possible the ultimate liability could exceed amounts currently estimated and we review established accruals and adjust them to reflect ongoing negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel and other relevant information. To the extent new information is obtained and our views on the probable outcomes of claims, suits, assessments, investigations or legal proceedings change, changes in our accrued liabilities would be recorded in the period in which such determination is made. Because of the high degree of judgment involved in establishing loss estimates, the ultimate outcome of such matters will differ from our estimates and such differences may be material to our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

At September 30, 2022, we were committed to make future purchases for inventory and other items in 2022 that occur in the ordinary course of business under various purchase arrangements with fixed purchase provisions aggregating approximately $84.1 million.