Amarin Cancels Investor Conference Appearance; Read-through Could Be Positive

Reports from Bloomberg that Amarin Corp. (NASDAQ:AMRN) has pulled out of the UBS Global Life Sciences Conference next week is leading some analysts to the assumption that the company has advanced talks with potential partners or acquirers of the company. AMRN management has not been shy with investors about its discussions with large-cap drug companies to potentially become a marketing partner or perhaps purchase the company outright for its lead product, Vascepa, which was approved in July. Sources say that the company is cancelling its presentation because of a self-imposed quiet period in front of the FDA’s decision on Vascepa’s NCE status (see PropThink’s latest article), however, given that there is typically no set date for an NCE decision, investors are skeptical of this reason. Assumptions that the company has moved to advanced discussions with potential drug company partners could push shares of AMRN higher. Many analysts are calling for the company to be acquired, and have an average price target for AMRN at $26 per share, suggesting that the stock has room to run if an acquisition is truly at hand.