US Patent Office rejects Amarin’s Trigyceride Drug Patent Application

NEW YORK (AP) — Earlier on Thursday, The Street.com reported that the government declined a patent application for Amarin Corp. PLC’s chief drug candidate resulting in the slump of company shares.

According to the report, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office declined the patent application for Amarin’s icosapent (AMR101), which is being developed as a cholesterol drug by the company.

Amarin is a developing Irish Biopharmaceutical company with no established products on the market, and AMR101 is its most promising drug candidate. The company plans to appeal the rejection and reapply for marketing approval by Sept. 30, according to TheStreet.com.

If approved, AMR101 will have patent exclusivity for years together; however, generics will be off the market for even longer with the additional patents.

According to an announcement by Amarin in April, the results of a clinical trial demonstrated that AMR101 was superior to placebo at lowering LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The participants involved in the study had high triglyceride levels, lipid disorders, and a risk of developing heart disease, and were already receiving treatment with statins like Lipitor or Crestor.

On Aug. 10, Amarin declared that the FDA was in agreement with it to design a new clinical trial intended to study the effects of the drug on patients’ hearts.

On Thursday, Amarin shares plummeted $1.30, or 10.5 percent, to $11.09, which followed the crash of 4.7 percent on Wednesday.