Amarin Corporation plc (Nasdaq: AMRN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a focus on cardiovascular disease, today reported the completion of patient randomization for its ANCHOR trial, a pivotal Phase 3 trial of AMR101. The Company indicated that it anticipates reporting top-line results from this trial in Q2 2011 (the Company's previous guidance for the timing of such results was mid-2011).
The ANCHOR trial is a multi-center, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind, 12-week pivotal study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 2 grams and 4 grams of AMR101 (ethyl-EPA) in patients with high triglyceride levels from 200 mg/dL to less than 500 mg/dL who are also on statin therapy. Patients in this trial are characterized as having high triglyceride levels with mixed dyslipidemia (two or more lipid disorders) and are at significant risk of cardiovascular disease. No omega-3 based therapy is approved by the FDA for treating this patient population.
The ANCHOR trial is being conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The trial recruited and randomized 702 patients. Prior to randomization into the 12-week treatment period, all patients underwent a six-to-eight week washout period of lipid altering drugs, as well as diet and lifestyle stabilization. The Company expects that the 702 patients randomized will be sufficient to demonstrate statistical significance in accordance with the trial protocol. All of the clinical sites in the trial are in the U.S. The primary endpoint in the trial is the percent change in triglyceride level from baseline to week 12. An important secondary endpoint in the ANCHOR trial is to show that the addition of AMR101 to statin therapy does not increase LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C or "bad cholesterol") compared to placebo in this population.
"We are pleased that the ANCHOR study has been able to complete the patient randomization process before the end of 2010," said Joseph S. Zakrzewski, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Amarin. "Following the very positive results of the recently reported MARINE study in which AMR101 demonstrated that it reduced triglyceride levels without increasing LDL-C in patients with very high triglycerides (>500 mg/dL), the ANCHOR study evaluates AMR101 in a different and larger patient population. AMR101 is designed to be first-in-class for this indication. In the U.S. alone, there are 36 million patients with triglyceride levels in the range being studied in the ANCHOR trial."
On November 29, 2010, the Company reported positive top-line data for its pivotal Phase 3 MARINE study. In that study, AMR101 was shown to effectively lower triglyceride levels in patients with very high triglycerides (>500mg/dl) without increasing LDL-C. AMR101 is the first omega-3 based product outside of Japan to demonstrate statistically significant triglyceride reduction without an increase in LDL-C. The Company believes that this is because AMR101, like a similar product in Japan, consists of >96% ethyl-EPA (ethyl icosapentate) and no DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid). DHA has been linked to increases in LDL-C. The MARINE study results also included favorable findings with respect to significant reductions in total cholesterol, non-HDL-C, Apo B, and Lp-PLA2 levels together with a safety profile for AMR101 that appears to be both comparable to placebo and more favorable compared to other triglyceride lowering therapies. The MARINE study was conducted in a population representative of millions of people with very high triglyceride levels, including more than 3.8 million in the U.S. Amarin believes that AMR101 is positioned to be best-in-class for this indication.
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