Amarin Corporation (NASDAQ:AMRN) Prime Takeover Candidate After ANCHOR Data

With ANCHOR data in the early part of 2011 expected to be positive for Amarin Corporation (NASDAQ:AMRN), they are soon after expected to be a top candidate to be acquired.

Wedbush analyst Duane Nash says the recent positive data from the Phase III MARINE trial "strongly de-risks the ANCHOR study, as patients in MARINE did not exhibit a rise in LDL cholesterol, an outcome critical for success in ANCHOR."

He added, "relatively low regulatory risk, established market pathway and a growing need for large pharmaceutical companies to augment their cardiovascular drug portfolios to offset the upcoming influx of generic statin (cholesterol lowering) drugs."

Wedbush maintains their "Outperform" rating on Amarin, which closed Wednesday at $8.49, up $0.64, or 8.15 percent. Amarin raised their price target on them from $7 to $10.