Why Amarin Shares Temporarily Plunged Then Rebounded

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of biopharmaceutical company Amarin briefly screamed lower by as much as 10%, but now sits down less than 5% as of this writing, following the announcement of an additional supplier for its triglyceride-reducing drug, Vascepa.

So what: With Amarin shareholders still in limbo as they await word on a still-undecided new chemical entity status, or NCE, for Vascepa, it's easy to understand why any news not relating to that NCE is bound to irritate traders. Last week, the announcement that Amarin would take on $100 million in equity financing to hire a marketing staff for Vascepa crushed the share price. Today's announcement that it has added Slanmhor Pharmaceuticals to its active pharmaceutical ingredient supply chain for Vascepa simply wasn't enough to get investors' minds off that pesky NCE status.

Now what: Sales at VIVUS and Dendreon have limped out of the gate for VIVUS' Qsymia for chronic weight management and Dendreon's Provenge for advanced castration-resistant prostate cancer because they both lacked a marketing partner. Amarin shareholders have to be concerned that this could be their same fate given that Amarin is taking on debt to hire a marketing staff. In addition, with Vascepa's NCE status still up in the air, there's no guarantee that the drug will receive a five-year period of exclusivity which would be a major blow to the drugs' potential. While I agree that Vascepa has a lot of potential and that Amarin could be a buyout candidate, it's not a company I feel comfortable chasing at the moment.

The biotech space can make or break investors overnight, and while Amarin might not disappear into thin air, the success of Vascepa is key to the company's future success or failure. The company has huge potential, but don't invest a dollar before reading everything you need to know about Amarin. You can start now with top Fool.com analyst Max Macaluso's premium research report. Click here now to keep reading.

The article Why Amarin Shares Temporarily Plunged Then Rebounded originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of Dendreon. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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