Amarin licenses nasal lorazepam from Elan

London, UK-based Amarin Corp has acquired a global license to develop and market Irish drugmaker Elan's novel, nasal lorazepam formulation for the out-patient treatment of emergency seizures in epilepsy patients, specifically status epilepticus (SE) and acute repetitive seizures (ARS). The formulation utilizes Elan's patent protected NanoCrystal Technology.

According to Amarin, SE and ARS have an estimated annual incidence in the USA of 150,000 cases and up to 400,000 patients, respectively, with around 40,000 deaths in America each year associated with such emergency seizures. On hearing of the deal, Irish stockbroker Davy's has set a $8.50 price target for Amarin's stock, which is five times its current share price.

Rick Stewart, Amarin's chief executive, noted that a nasal product for seizure emergencies in the out-patient setting for epilepsy would represent an important treatment option. "We believe the potential annual sales for such a product could be up to $300.0 million in the USA. We are very excited about this opportunity as it fits neatly into Amarin's neurology focused strategy," he said.