Dallas, Texas 09/17/2013 (Financialstrend) -On the whole, Investors are cautious about investing in Amarin Corporation plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMRN). Like some other biotechnology companies, it too has pegged all its expectations on Vascepa, one single drug. This drug had gained FDA approval in July 2012 and was launched in the U.S in January 2013. It is an Omega-3 fish-oil treatment that is used to treat patients suffering from extremely high Triglyceride levels.
This can lead to a condition called metabolic syndrome. Vascepa garnered $5.5M in sales in the last quarter as its normalized-prescriptions increased from 10,484 in the Q1 to 47,335 in the Q2.
No competition?
The company was sitting pretty with the thought that Lovaza would be the only other drug that would compete with Vascepa. The former is another Omega-3 fatty-acid treatment that has been patented by the BASF Se-owned Pronova BioPharma. The licensing had been actioned by GlaxoSmithKline. This deal has investors convinced that there was a possibility of Amarin Corporation plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMRN) and Pronova would reach some deals with generic companies. This would keep the market crowd-free for at least 2-3 years.
The tides turn
However, this decision was overruled by a Delaware court recently and the generic drug makers, Teva and Par might find a hurdle-free path to launch the generic versions of the drug, Lovaza any time this year. What this means for Amarin Corporation plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMRN) is that the market will not now be split not only with Pronova but will be much more segmented now. Apart from this, the company does not have too much of backing in the pharma industry. The company shares plummeted post the 12 September ruling. GlaxoSmithKline and BASF were not affected too much by the reversal though.
In Monday’s trading Amarin Corporation plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:AMRN) stock dipped 0.30%.The opening price of the shares was $6.68 which rose to an intraday high of $6.77 and dipped to close at $6.58.