Shortly after, Thomas Lynch, who is Elan's executive vice chairman, became "nonexecutive" chairman of Amarin.
The best stock by far was Amarin, which is developing a proprietary fish oil formulation for lowering triglycerides.
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To Amarin, NCE status can mean the difference between three and roughly five years of patent protection for Vascepa.
Last week came and went without a much-anticipated decision from the FDA about Amarin and its fish oil pill.
Amarin execs previously indicated a decision was due because the agency updated its monthly compendium of patent listings known as the Orange Book.
For months, though, some investors speculated that the sooner NCE status was granted, the sooner Amarin could become bait for a big pharma partner, or acquirer.
All Amarin would have had to do was to convince doctors, who were upping their use of fish oil, to prescribe Vascepa to new patients instead of Lovaza.
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The biggest gainer was Amarin Pharmaceutical, thanks to a purified fish oil that does not seem to raise cholesterol levels like the existing prescription fish oil pill, Lovaza.
This is another reason that some investors remain Amarin bulls.
Click here to read the press release from Amarin.
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His two biggest holdings are AMARIN (AMRN, 15), a volatile biotech focused on combating cardiovascular disease by using purified fish oil, and DEPOMED (DEPO, 5.5) , a drug-delivery outfit.
Amarin investors have been hoping that the company would nab a big pharmaceutical partner to give it access to the kind of partner that made Lovaza such a big product.
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Amarin is conducting what could be t he definitive study of Vascepa in patients with high triglycerides to try to settle the debate, but results are not expected until 2016.
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But the real thing to be excited about here is that Amarin may gather hard proof that giving fish oil to people with high triglycerides lowers their risk of heart attacks.
Amarin says it has patents protecting Vascepa until 2030.
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There was also a lot of hope about fish oil pills, including prescription versions such as Lovaza, sold in the U.S. by GlaxoSmithKline, and Vascepa, an approved but not-yet-launched drug from Amarin Pharma.
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Amarin, which makes a new form of fish oil called Vascepa, could have marketing difficulties because doctors will draw comparisons between the niacin story and that for fish oil medicines, which showed benefit in early, open-label studies but have failed in more recent rigorous ones.
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