Stonington’s Amarin earns $96M in 3Q

Irish drug developer Amarin Corp. PLC, with Stonington R&D operations, posted a rare profit in the third-quarter despite not yet marketing any of the preventative heart-ailment treatments in its research lab.

For three months ended Sept. 30, Amarin netted $96.4 million, or 62 cents a share. That compares to a year-earlier net loss of $11.2 million, or 11 cents a share.

Earnings were 6-cents-a-share better than what Wall Street analysts had forecast, according to Briefing.com.

The bulk of its profit was tied to the conversion of debt warrants held by investors into equity in Amarin, the company said Tuesday.

Amarin awaits formal U.S. Food and Drug Administration review and approval of its application to market its proprietary recipe for a compound code-named AMR101 that strips fatty acids from the bloodstream that can cause heart disease.

More important at this stage than earnings or drug sales is how much cash Amarin has on hand to pay salaries and other overhead while it waits. At Sept. 30, Amarin's cash horde totaled $125.9 million, down from $131.5 million at June 30 but more than quadruple its cash pile of $31.4 million at Dec. 31, 2010.