Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[Webster_iam]

ORB, the resistance of Primary Care specialties to calcium scoring is the usefulness of the test. No doubt the test convey's risk of MI and stroke. The majority of the time, it's not difficult for a primary doc to identify patients at risk of, or having CVD. They're going to start an aggressive regime of meds and lifestyle changes regardless if the patients has a high CAC score or not. The types of meds and life changes will not be affected by a CAC score. So they're thinking, "why spend the money for something I already know", especially if it won't change their treatment protocol. Additionally, lifestyle changes and medications do not result in lower scores, so follow up testing is not really an option to measure treatment effectiveness. One other factor is MI's and strokes are rarely caused by calcified plaque occluding the artery, rather it is soft, inflamed plaques that burst and clot, which are responsible for about 80% of heart attacks and strokes. Calcium Scoring does not aid in soft plaque identification.

Webster