Amarin Becomes A January 2013 Story on FDA Uncertainty

Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ: AMRN) is not exactly having a good day considering that its fish oil based drug for lowering triglycerides is not going to be a known event as soon as the company was hoping. The company included an SEC Filing this morning showing that it now does not expect to be included in the Orange Book’s decision by the FDA on the five-year exclusivity of Vascepa’s new chemical entity after its July-2012 approval.

Options trading for the month of October just got thrown out the window. The problem is that Amarin may now not even be a November story and it may not even be a December story.

Here is what the filing disclosed:

Amarin continues to anticipate commercial launch of Vascepa in the first quarter of 2013, and continues to consider three potential paths for the marketing and sale of the product: an acquisition of Amarin, a strategic collaboration, or self-commercialization, the latter of which could include third-party support.

The options trading does not get very interesting now until January 2013 and that means that those premiums will remain high. We have seen almost 6,600 contracts trade in the JAN-2013 $12 CALLS versus a prior open interest of only 2,877 contracts. In the same JAN-2013 expiration month, the $9 PUTS have seen almost 6,400 contracts trade hands against a prior open interest of 4,176 contracts.

December options trading is elevated but only November showed some other interesting trades. Options traders now are looking like they think that Amarin is a January story. That may change, but the 6% drop on more than 154 million shares with 90 minutes left until the close probably tells you all you needed to know.

Amarin has a market cap of $1.64 billion and a 52-week range of $5.99 to $15.96.

JON C. OGG