A once high-flying drug might be poised to take to the skies again. Amarin (AMRN -2.11%) released clinical trial results Monday that showed its Vascepa heart medicine effectively reduced cardiovascular events in patients with decreased kidney function.
The late-stage trial is a component of the company's REDUCE-IT studies aimed at gauging Vascepa's effect on at-risk patient populations.
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"We continue to see the consistency in benefit and safety of Vascepa administration across various at-risk patient populations, including across varying degrees of renal function," the company quoted its chief scientific officer, Steven Ketchum, as saying.
That consistency was clearly in evidence during the renal patient study. "It is notable that, despite observing with REDUCE-IT patients the known increase in cardiovascular events with decreased kidney function, all patients experienced similar relative cardiovascular risk reduction benefits, resulting in overall greater absolute risk reductions in patients with compromised kidney function," Ketchum added.
Amarin suffered a major blow with Vascepa earlier this year. In March, a court ruled in favor of two drugmakers, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, which Amarin had sued over their intentions to produce and market generic versions of the drug. Amarin appealed the ruling, but a federal appeals court upheld it last month.
Since the original ruling, the company's stock has not been popular -- both the company and investors had high hopes for Vascepa, which seemed very well positioned to be a blockbuster drug as long as Amarin held exclusivity.
On Monday, Amarin's shares closed 2.4% lower, a steeper decline than the 1.9% drop in the S&P 500 index on the day.
