Why Amarin Stock Was Rocketing Higher on Wednesday

Any one-product company that receives good news about that product will likely attract investors. That was the case Wednesday with (NASDAQ: AMRN), which received very encouraging news about its single commercialized drug that day. As a result, its shares were trading more than 6% higher in late-session trading on the stock market, eclipsing the basically flatlining S 500 index.

Amarin announced that morning, no doubt with great satisfaction, that its cardiovascular drug Vazkepa (branded as Vascepa in the U.S. market) has received an extension to its patent exclusivity in the European Union (E.U.), thanks to a new patent covering the drug. The 27-country bloc's European Patent Office (EPO) tacked on eight years to Vazkepa's term, so it will now expire in April 2039.

Patent exclusivity is crucial for pharmaceutical companies, as they have far more scope to set the price for their drugs when there is no competition.

Source Fool.com