Nuke..and others..
The highest wall any fledgling biotech faces is to get to the point where they begin to generate revenue...In some cases getting over the wall leads nowhere because the demand for the drug is not there, the competition is too fierce or the treatment is too expensive..IMO Vascepa faces none of those problems..
Stock market players are characterized by aversions and biases..One peculiar to technology and biotech in particular is an attraction to complexity...Investors are drawn to complex and wonderful ideas..even when they really don't understand them...Geron has existed since the mid 1990s on hopes for the miraculous..telomeres, stem cells, spinal chord recovery...all great ideas, but little success..AMRN is continuously attacked because of the simplicity of its product..a component of fish oil..Not very sexy, but neither is CocaCola if you think about it..
Vascepa works..The science behind it is much stronger than most people including medical professionals realize. The science is backed up by earlier run outcomes studies which if looked at rigorously are very impressive..Since REDUCE-IT represents a stacked deck of JELIS the results are highly predictive. The science is also backed up by population studies that show highly beneficial benefits in populations where the EPA/Omega6 ratio is higher..Finally the idea makes sense on an evolutionary level..EPA , eicosanoids date back to sponges.."if it works, don't fix it.
As far as money and burn rate goes..The company has well over $220mil in cash and $20 mil worth of drug..I take Vascepa and I am very pleased with how it makes me feel over and above what it is doing for my chemistries..Compliance is less of a problem when a drug makes you feel good..I worry more about forgetting to take it..I see this drug taking off...I have never taken statins, but friends who have do not generally have nice things to say about them...I see revenues increasing in significant amounts..AMRN has no financial worries this year and would not be getting short until the end of next year..and that would only happen if doctors refused to use the drug for the dyslipidemia indication..IMO Vascepa will get the ANCHOR sNDA before the end of the year, next year they will be making the kind of money that will make the debt issue a joke...and any talk of selling in the teens ridiculous.
PS..I have not addressed the sales rep issue...I know some reps..reps make money by salary and commission..right now a lot of them work for more than one company..best estimate is AMRN pays them $75-85K salary plus commisions...
":>) JL
