Benzinga | Sep 22, 2021 09:15AM EDT

Amarin Outlines New Go-To-Market Strategy To Accelerate VASCEPA Growth In US

Amarin Corporation plc (NASDAQ:AMRN) today outlined its new Go-to-Market strategy to accelerate growth of VASCEPA(r) (icosapent ethyl) in the United States, which focuses on expanding healthcare professional engagement through a new omnichannel platform, enhancing managed care access and optimizing VASCEPA prescriptions for cardiovascular (CV) risk reduction.

"Amarin is embarking on a transformation to a new, integrated Go-to-Market approach in the U.S., furthering our mission of helping millions of untreated, at-risk patients gain access to VASCEPA," said Karim Mikhail, Amarin's president and chief executive officer. "We are seeing a dramatic shift in how physicians prefer to engage and are applying key learnings from our European launch initiatives as we work to maximize our impact with both healthcare professionals and patients. We continue to believe that there is enormous opportunity for VASCEPA/VAZKEPA in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world. With this new strategy, we are confident in our ability to drive U.S. growth and realize the full potential of our first-of-its kind product as we continue to execute our global strategic plan to create value for all shareholders."

Aaron Berg, Amarin's executive vice president and president, U.S., added, "Our new Go-to-Market strategy is a more dynamic, nimble and efficient approach to educating healthcare professionals and patients about our product to reduce cardiovascular risk. We believe this strategy will allow Amarin to accelerate VASCEPA prescription growth and drive an increasingly profitable U.S. franchise."

Key Strategic Priorities

* Expanding Healthcare Provider Engagement: Amarin's omnichannel approach will enhance the Company's reach to healthcare professionals, targeting a far greater number of the almost 700,000 statin prescribers through high frequency, tailored and impactful messaging regarding the significant benefits of VASCEPA for CV risk reduction. Consistent with this model, Amarin will optimize its U.S. field force and focus on the most productive territories. This will result in a reduction of Amarin's U.S. field force to approximately 300 sales representatives who will remain a critical part of the Company's commercial strategy going forward. Amarin will reinvest the realized net savings towards its expanded educational and promotional efforts.

* Enhancing Managed Care Access: Amarin will continue working with payers to enhance its strong managed care position and further remove barriers to VASCEPA prescriptions to ensure that patients in need of CV risk reduction receive proper therapy. Importantly, several large Commercial and Medicare Part D payers currently cover VASCEPA as the exclusive icosapent ethyl (IPE) product due to its cost-effectiveness.

* Optimizing VASCEPA Prescriptions for CV Risk Reduction: Today, branded VASCEPA remains the only available U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved IPE medication for CV risk reduction. To prevent improper generic substitution for this indication, Amarin is continuing to aggressively educate critical stakeholders in the prescribing continuum to ensure proper fulfillment at each step. Additionally, Amarin is evaluating various innovative solutions designed to better manage IPE prescriptions for CV risk reduction.

Mr. Berg concluded, "Our people have always been and remain the foundation of our business. Decisions that impact people are never easy, and we are making every effort to support those employees who are affected by our field force optimization."