Amarin shares shrivel after FDA experts spurn Vascepa

Shares of Amarin ($AMRN) were blasted this morning--plunging 63%--as investors got a chance to vote with their money on the company's prospects following a decisive failure to persuade an FDA advisory committee that its fish-oil pill Vascepa should be approved for a much wider audience. The AdComm voted 9 to 2 against approving the use of Vascepa, which lowers the level of blood fat, among patients taking a statin who are at a high risk of coronary disease. As the FDA internal review has already suggested that any expanded approval should wait for the results of a clinical trial on coronary outcomes that won't wrap until 2016, Amarin is likely stuck with a product limited to patients with very high triglycerides that manages to carve out only small sales. And analysts quickly concluded that the company would probably have to raise cash at a time its stock price has been weak. Story