Joseph S. Zakrzewski
Analyst · JP Morgan
Thank you, Steve, and welcome to everyone who is joining us today. During this call, we will briefly review our recent accomplishments, update you on Amarin's financial performance in the third quarter of 2012 and answer a few questions from those on the call. I am joined on today's call by John Thero, Amarin's President; Steve Ketchum, our President of R&D; Joe Kennedy, our General Counsel; and Fred Ahlholm, our VP of Finance. Since our last quarter, we have advanced key objectives in a number of areas, including: FDA approval of Vascepa capsules as an adjunct to diet to reduce triglyceride levels in adult patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia; 8 patents, either issued or allowed within the United States Patent and Trademark Office, in addition to over 30 U.S. patent applications pending; receipt of an Intention to Grant of a European patent related to the MARINE Phase 3 trial findings; while continuing to evaluate 3 paths to commercialization and acquisition of Amarin, a strategic collaboration, or self-commercialization, the latter of which could include third-party support, continuing preparedness for early Q1 2013 Vascepa launch, including inventory purchases, managed care outreach and management expansion; publication of ANCHOR Phase 3 trial results in the American Journal Cardiology; the publication of additional MARINE Phase 3 trial results in its Journal of Clinical Lipidology; and most recently this week, presentation of Vascepa Phase III clinical data at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions; received regulatory approval of Catalent, as a second drug product encapsulator; and as previously communicated, making good progress on REDUCE-IT enrollment, which continues to support the projected Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date for ANCHOR before the end of 2013. While these achievements are significant, we have done this while carefully managing our spending. As a result, we ended September with a cash balance of $215.1 million. As there may be some new investors on the call today, I remind you that on July 26, 2012, the scheduled PDUFA date, FDA-approved Vascepa, which was formerly known as AMR101, for what we refer to as the MARINE indication, used as an adjunct to diet to reduce triglyceride levels in adult patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia, which is triglycerides greater than or equal to 500 mg/dL. No adverse reactions were reported at the incidence level of 3%. In fact, only one incidence was slightly greater than placebo. That was for arthralgia and that incidence rate was 2%. It is this indication for Vascepa that will be launched early in the first quarter of 2013, while we work towards approval of additional indications for the product. Since this approval, we have received a consistent flow of positive feedback from key opinion leaders and other clinicians regarding the Vascepa label. Clinicians clearly like the triglyceride-lowering effect of Vascepa without increasing LDL-C. Many have commented, if you don't have to raise LDL-C, why would you? Clinicians also commented on the broad spectrum of beneficial effects in the Vascepa label, including Vascepa-attributed reductions in total cholesterol, non-HDL-C, VLDL-C, Apo B, Lp-PLA2, as well as the safety profile that I just mentioned. Clinicians have also noted that the label for Vascepa does not include a warning regarding atrial fibrillation risk, which the FDA recently required of one of our likely competitors, Lovaza. In addition, to the above mentioned comments from clinicians, we've often seen their interest level expressed directly through their actions. Recently, Amarin hosted or sponsored discussions about Vascepa and lipid management to overflow crowds in multiple venues. This has included presentations at specialty conferences, such as the cardiometabolic health care conference held in Boston in October and continuing education medical programs sponsored in multiple cities. We also witnessed extensive trade show booth traffic at the American Heart Association's Annual Scientific Session this week in Los Angeles. These activities are beginning to introduce Vascepa to potential prescribing physicians and they confirm Vascepa's huge potential. Continuing with the regulatory update. We've drafted the sNDA for the ANCHOR indication, that's the use of Vascepa to treat patients on statin therapy with multiple lipid disorders, including triglyceride levels greater than 200 mg/dL. Our submission of this sNDA to FDA is pending only the final REDUCE-IT cardiovascular outcome study being deemed substantially under way as discussed with the FDA in connection with our ANCHOR Special Protocol Assessment. Patient enrollment in the REDUCE-IT study is progressing well and, as previously guided, we anticipate submitting this sNDA submission no later than the end of February 2013, which would position the sNDA for PDUFA date in the fourth quarter of 2013. In October, through a separate sNDA process, Amarin received the approval to use Catalent Pharma Solutions as a second Vascepa product encapsulator. As a result, we now have 2 FDA-approved encapsulators, Banner Pharmacaps and Catalent. The diversification of our supply chain is part of our previously communicated strategy for supply-chain risk mitigation for the use of multiple global suppliers. Similarly, Amarin has agreements with multiple active pharmaceutical ingredient suppliers, including Nisshin, the supplier group as part of our NDA. Amarin has been working with Chemport and BASF for over a year and we plan to submit sNDA's for both of these API suppliers around the end of this year. In parallel with qualifying these additional suppliers, Nisshin has been steadily producing API, which will be used to stock various wholesalers and advance of the planned Vascepa launch. Finally, we intend to submit a fourth supplier by the end of the first quarter of 2013. Expanding on Vascepa exclusivity accomplishments. Amarin's patent strategy continues to gain significant traction. In the U.S., Amarin has now 8 patents either issued or allowed, and over 30 additional patent applications being prosecuted. Of the 8 patents, 3 cover pharmaceutical composition of the drug and 5 are specifically related to the MARINE indication. We continue to see our growing patent estate as the most significant competitive advantage for Vascepa exclusivity. We remain very encouraged by our progress as we continue to see timely patent office activity on additional broader MARINE-related applications, and just as important, ANCHOR-related applications as well. As previously announced, Amarin also received notification of an Intention to Grant letter for our primary MARINE method of use patent in Europe. I remind you that Amarin's goal is to protect the commercial potential of Vascepa through exclusivity to beyond 2013 through a combination of patent protection, regulatory exclusivity, trade secrets and by taking advantage of manufacturing barriers to entry. Amarin has made great progress toward this goal and we expect that progress to continue. A decision remains overdue on the FDA's determination of 5-year or 3-year regulatory exclusivity for Vascepa. We continue to request that the FDA make a timely determination. I cannot make a prediction as to when that determination will be made. We believe that there are strong arguments to support 5-year regulatory exclusivity of Vascepa as a new chemical entity under the provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act. However, we cannot make assurances that the FDA will agree with our arguments or provide us with this 5 years of exclusivity. Regarding Vascepa commercialization, as is expected for a biopharma company at our stage, Amarin is actively considering 3 potential paths to the commercial success for Vascepa: An acquisition of Amarin, a strategic collaboration, or self-commercialization, the latter which could include third-party support. We will continue to closely evaluate each of these paths as we seek to maximize value for our shareholders. Regarding opportunities with large Pharma companies, the uncertainty around our pending regulatory exclusivity request has presented a challenge in our discussions. Whether we receive 5 years or 3 years of exclusivity, a decision in and of itself would provide some degree of clarification for many of the parties involved. However, with our current coverage from patents with terms that expire in 2030 and beyond and expanded additional claims now in prosecution, we continue to see our expanding patent prosecution as the most significant factor in protecting the Vascepa franchise in the long-term. Importantly, we also remind you of the differences we expect competitors to face as they seek to securely supply highly purified EPA to compete with Vascepa and the potential protection afforded by our of trade secrets and the leveraging of manufacturing barriers to entry. Consistent with our 3-option strategy, an acquisition of Amarin, a strategic collaboration, or self-commercialization, the latter of which could include third-party support, Amarin continues to anticipate commercial launch of Vascepa early in the first quarter of 2013. And we are taking all the steps necessary and required to enable a successful launch. And we believe that Vascepa, based on its demonstrated product profile, is positioned to compete effectively in current therapies and those that are under development. Our goal is not simply to take market share, which we believe we can do successfully, but to expand the market well beyond current levels. The indication for which we are approved represents a large and clinically important market, as approximately 4 million, or 1 in 50, adult Americans have triglyceride levels greater than 500 mg/dL. This is a target market especially positioned that we believe can be successfully addressed by Amarin, if that option is acquired, with 250 to 300 sales reps. The indication study in the ANCHOR trial represents significantly larger opportunity, as approximately 40 million, or 1 in 5, adult Americans in the U.S, have triglyceride levels greater than 200 mg/dL. And this represents a broader, more challenging primary care market. We feel that success in this population will require help from the outside. Regarding both of these indications, we believe that our clinical results positions Vascepa to be highly competitive commercially in both of these patient populations. As of this conference call, Amarin has not made a decision to hire its own sales force. As previously discussed, this decision would be made to start making offers to prospective sales representatives sometime between the middle of November and the end of November 2012. Beyond hiring of a sales force, Amarin has done everything in its power to make Vascepa a successful launch, regardless of which of the 3 options are pursued, including bringing on key personnel in the areas of managed care, marketing, sales and infrastructure, pricing and supply, just to name a few. I'll now let Fred Ahlholm, Amarin's Vice President of Finance, to comment on Amarin's third quarter 2012 financial results. Fred?