Pump-n-Dump/Short-n-Distort
There are many ways to talk about AMRN and their data on Vascepa (a very common and accessible high-purity ethyl ester EPA formulation derived from fish oil). For example, pretending to possess inside info on a buyout or major partnership (or being deluded into thinking you possess it), and spreading that info on a message board, such as this one, and yet day after day goes by with no such M&A/partnership; or saying "the mineral oil issue has been debunked," even though FDA raised major concerns over ANCHOR data, stating plainly "mineral oil may not be inert" and "the treatment effects observed with Vascepa may be overestimated." Those are real quotes from the agency. Do you think observing the same increases across all atherogenic/inflammatory markers reported in REDUCE-IT, confirming what was seen in ANCHOR, which troubled the agency, is consistent with the view expressed by AMRN bulls that "the mineral oil issue has been debunked"? And of course citing the view of the Global Principal Investigator, who couldn't possibly be biased...
At the same time there is a flip side to the above examples of "pumping" AMRN stock, with the ultimate goal to dump ones shares on another buying them at a premium, and that is distorting AMRN stock. One example of this was Dr. Sharma's tweets on AMRN that the ADA had not in fact given an "A grade" recommendation. We saw him isolate and quote from older ADA documents, but cut out dates, etc. Then, in his Seeking Alpha article, he initially (when it was an instablog) misstated the quantities of omega-3s in MegaRed Krill oil supplements, claiming there was around 1g EPA/DHA per capsule. There were a few other false statements as well. He stated he was short the stock. That is a clear example of distortion in an attempt to affect the stock price of AMRN for profit.
"Pump-n-dump" and "short-n-distort" schemes are illegal, being in violation of securities laws. They are equivalent in that they present false and misleading information in an attempt to profit off the induced market behavior.
Our analysis is completely absent either mishandling of information. Everything we have stated is completely accurate, and our inferences from data analysis, logical. In addition, and even though not in any way illegal, we restrict ourselves from taking active positions in stocks we write about (and even those we do not), including shares (long or short) or options. We only allow our members the buying and selling of stakes in index funds and/or ETFs. All members of MRC, executive and non, are subject to random audits to ensure of this. Our goal in instituting this policy was not to avoid some illegality or other, but to help ensure our analysis is tinged with as little bias as possible. And with Amarin Corp., we were not commissioned in any way to research and write our report.
And so with AMRN stock, we have no personal interest in the value of its shares at all, nor the timeframe in which the shares increase or decrease in value (such as is important to options traders). It has no effect on us if the stock opens tomorrow at $100 or at $1.
Regards,
-MRC team
