Amarin Announces Plans to Maximize Blockbuster Potential of VASCEPA® in Europe

Amarin's wild 2020 ride continues. Tuesday, the company said COVID-19 took a bite out of second quarter earnings, and it unveiled plans to launch its fish-oil derivative drug Vascepa in Europe without help from a bigger marketing partner. And that's on top of prepping for federal court this fall, where it will try to salvage Vascepa's key patents. Amarin positioned its European plans as a positive: It did receive multiple proposals from potential partners. But the significant sales opportunity for Vascepa in the E.U. means retaining product rights is the company's best move, executives said during an earnings call with analysts. While Vascepa is still awaiting approval in Europe, expected in early 2021, Amarin has already hired a commercial head, Karim Mikhail, who joined from his own commercial consultancy founded in 2018. Before that, though, he spent 22 years in a variety of roles at Merck, including as global leader for its lipid franchise and chief marketing officer for the EMEA region.