Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[HDGabor]

Defendants did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that the POSA would have been motivated to use substantially pure EPA as a treatment for severe hypertriglyceridemia, or that such a person would have reasonably expected to avoid a substantial increase in LDL-C using EPA in those patients. The prior art taught that every drug approved for lowering TGs in the severely hypertriglyceridemic — whether niacin, fibrates, or omega-3-fatty acids — raised LDL-C dramatically in that population, even though they did not have that effect when administered to patients with lower TG levels. The POSA attributed this increase in LDL-C to the way TG-lowering drugs were understood to work in the severely hypertriglyceridemic—enhancing clearance of the superabundance of VLDL particles to LDL. The POSA expected EPA to work the same way.