Amarin Reports Encouraging Data, Vascepa Shows 30% Reduction In Total Cardiovascular Events In REDUCE-IT Study

Amarin Corporation AMRN presented data for its cardiovascular outcome study of its prescription Vascepa (icosapent ethyl), the REDUCE-IT study. Vascepa demonstrated a statistically significant 30 percent risk reduction in cardiovascular events compared to placebo in the statin-treated population in REDUCE-IT.

This came as a late-breaker presentation at the American College of Cardiology's (ACC) 68th Annual Scientific Session and published simultaneously in the Journal of the American College.

Why it’s Important

Total events tracked in the study included a patient’s first and subsequent MACE occurrences.

The relative risk reduction demonstrated by Vascepa in REDUCE-IT has implications for both patient health and the cost of health care.

Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death in the United States. Cardiovascular disease is also the most expensive area of health care. Treating major adverse cardiovascular events is expensive both at the time of the event and often for years to follow.

Preventing such cardiovascular events would be beneficial for patients, their families and for health care at-large. Amarin believes that reducing approximately 159 MACE per 1,000 patients treated will position Vascepa well in pharmacoeconomic analyses planned to be conducted and reported in 2019.

What’s Next

"This is an impressive degree of risk reduction," said Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs in the Heart and Vascular Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "From a patient's perspective — and from my perspective as a physician — we care about repeat events and the risk of surviving a first stroke or heart attack only to go on to have a subsequent, and potentially fatal, event. The degree of benefit that this analysis reveals is quite large, especially considering that this is an additional layer of benefit on top of what statin and other therapies have already provided."

Amarin CEO John Thero said, "We believe that the robustly positive cardiovascular outcomes result demonstrated with Vascepa opens the door to a new era in preventative cardiovascular care which can potentially benefit millions of at-risk patients."

Amarin's stock traded lower by 5.6 percent to $19.18 per share at time of publication.

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