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Commitments and Contingencies
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Commitments and Contingencies
(7) Commitments and Contingencies

Litigation

In the ordinary course of business, the Company is from time to time involved in lawsuits, claims, investigations, proceedings, and threats of litigation relating to its business. “Item 3. Legal Proceedings” of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 includes a discussion of the Company’s current legal proceedings. There have been no material changes to those disclosures as of the date of this filing other than as set forth below.

On May 7, 2015, the Company and a group of independent physicians filed a federal lawsuit to permit the Company to share truthful and non-misleading information, including, but not limited to, the ANCHOR trial clinical data, with healthcare professionals in the United States about certain uses of Vascepa not included with approved FDA labeling of Vascepa and thus not permitted under the FDA’s interpretation of applicable law. The lawsuit, captioned Amarin Pharma, Inc., et al. v. Food & Drug Administration, et al. (1:15-cv-03588-PAE), was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and seeks a judicial declaration based on several legal theories. On August 7, 2015, the Court granted the Company’s request for preliminary relief in this litigation through a declaratory judgment that confirmed the Company may engage in truthful and non-misleading speech with healthcare professionals promoting the off-label use of Vascepa, i.e., to treat patients with persistently high triglycerides, and such speech may not form the basis of a misbranding action under the Federal Food and Drug Cosmetic Act. FDA did not appeal the Court’s preliminary ruling prior to the October 6, 2015 deadline for appeal. The underlying litigation has been stayed for settlement discussion and the parties are working toward settlement. The Company cannot predict the outcome of settlement negotiations or this litigation.

On May 28, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the Company’s motion for summary judgment in the Company’s lawsuit against the FDA, captioned Amarin Pharmaceuticals Ireland Ltd. v. Food & Drug Administration, et al., Civ. A. No. 14-0324 (D.D.C.). This lawsuit sought an order requiring FDA to recognize five-year, New Chemical Entity (“NCE”) marketing exclusivity for Vascepa. The decision vacated the FDA’s denial of the Company’s claim for such exclusivity and remanded to the FDA for proceedings consistent with the decision. On July 22, 2015, Watson Laboratories Inc., the purported first Vascepa ANDA filer, sought to intervene and appeal the Court’s decision. The Company intends to continue to litigate the case vigorously, but cannot predict the outcome of this litigation. FDA did not appeal the Court’s decision prior to the July 28, 2015 deadline for appeal.

Based on the May 28, 2015 U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia order granting the Company’s motion for summary judgment in the NCE litigation, on June 26, 2015, the parties to the related Vascepa patent litigation that followed acceptance by FDA of abbreviated new drug applications, or ANDAs, to Vascepa agreed to a full stay of proceeding in that patent litigation. Based on subsequent FDA notification to the ANDA filers that FDA had changed the status of their ANDAs to submitted, but no longer accepted, the Company believes the statutory basis for the patent litigation (accepted ANDAs) no longer exists. Thus, on July 24, 2015, the Company moved to dismiss the pending patent infringement lawsuits against each of the Vascepa ANDA applicants. The Company cannot predict the outcome of this motion to dismiss or litigation. If the motion to dismiss is granted, the Company plans to defend the exclusivity of Vascepa through patent litigation after notification that FDA has accepted an ANDA application related to Vascepa which, assuming NCE exclusivity, the Company would expect no sooner than late July 2016.

On June 29, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the Company’s motion to dismiss the putative consolidated class action lawsuit captioned In re Amarin Corporation plc, Securities Litigation, No. 3:13-cv-06663 (D.N.J. Nov. 1, 2013). The class action was dismissed without prejudice with leave for plaintiffs to file an amended complaint. The lawsuit sought unspecified monetary damages and attorneys’ fees and costs alleging that Amarin and certain of its current and former officers and directors made misstatements and omissions regarding the FDA’s willingness to approve Vascepa’s ANCHOR indication and related contributing factors and the potential relevance of data from the ongoing REDUCE-IT trial to that potential approval. On July 29, 2015, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint alleging facts similar to those in the original complaint. Like the first complaint, the amended complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages and attorneys’ fees and costs. The Company believes it has valid defenses and will continue to vigorously defend against this lawsuit, but cannot predict the outcome. The Company has insurance coverage that is anticipated to cover any significant loss exposure that may arise from this action.

Milestone and Supply Purchase Obligations

The Company entered into several product development agreements with, subject to performance obligations, certain milestone and supply purchase obligations.

 

The Company entered into long-term supply agreements with multiple FDA-approved API suppliers and encapsulators. Certain supply agreements require annual minimum volume commitments by the Company and certain volume shortfalls may require payments for such shortfalls. The Company continues to meet its contractual volume obligations.

Under the 2004 share repurchase agreement with Laxdale Limited, or Laxdale, upon receipt of marketing approval in Europe for the first indication for Vascepa (or first indication of any product containing Amarin Neuroscience intellectual property acquired from Laxdale in 2004), the Company must make an aggregate stock or cash payment to the former shareholders of Laxdale (at the sole option of each of the sellers) of £7.5 million (approximately $11.4 million as of September 30, 2015). Also under the Laxdale agreement, upon receipt of a marketing approval in the United States or Europe for a further indication of Vascepa (or further indication of any other product using Amarin Neuroscience intellectual property), the Company must make an aggregate stock or cash payment (at the sole option of each of the sellers) of £5 million (approximately $7.6 million as of September 30, 2015) for each of the two potential market approvals (i.e., £10 million maximum, or approximately $15.2 million as of September 30, 2015).

The Company has no provision for any of the obligations above since the amounts are either not probable or able to be estimated as of September 30, 2015.