Replies to post #141171 on Biotech Values

[ariadndndough]

Dew. Amrn seems to be making progress on 889

Jefferies Report today - 5/2/12      2-May-12 08:19 am    
Reitterate $24 price target.

889 Patent Application Continues To Make Progress With PTO Meeting

Key Takeaway
The U.S. Patent Office (PTO) posted the interview agenda for a 4/24 meeting
with AMRN IP attorneys. Although the meeting was requested by AMRN and the
agenda did not contain much descriptive text, our conclusion from the topics
and figures, combined with the fact that the document was addressed to the
examiner's supervisor, is that positive progress is being made with the
application.

What's New:
Agenda Of Recent Meeting Indicates AMRN's Initial Counterarguments.
The transaction history for 889 was updated with two transactions: a
miscellaneous incoming letter dated 4/20 and an applicant initiated interview
summary dated 4/24. The incoming letter included an interview agenda addressed
to Brandon Fetterolf, the examiner's supervisor, for a 4/24 meeting with attorneys representing AMRN (David Fournier, John Kappos). The interview agenda
included proposed claim amendments for the 889 and 13/282,145 applications, as
well as data for discussion of the prima facie case and reasonable expectation
of success (see p. 2 for details).

Our Take: Meeting Incremental Positive, Remain Bullish On IP Prospects.
Although it is impossible to determine how the meeting went based solely on the
interview agenda, we believe a couple of conclusions can be drawn. First, we
believe that addressing the examiner's supervisor is an incremental positive.
As a reminder, our IP consultant concluded that the examiner has "dug in his
heels" and appeared to be entrenched against allowing the patent (see 3/16
note). Second, while we are uncertain if the PTO will accept the new
information provided by AMRN, we see it as a positive that the company
continues to be able to narrow the claims to work with the PTO and refute
critical PTO arguments with solid evidence. We expect that the next steps will
be for AMRN to submit a new response for the 889 application. We remain
confident that the recently issued 598 patent will facilitate a potential
pharma partnership or acquisition. A surprise issuance of 889, which may help
protect AMR101 until 2030, would lead to significant upside to the