The Lighthouse | 2012 December

Big Surprise? – Brown leading California to the Brink as Revenues Fall Despite Tax Hikes

By Erik Zimerman On December 29, 2012 · Add Comment · In Avvisi, The Whiskey Room

While the media buzz rages about the so called national fiscal cliff (a gross mis-characterization, meant largely to force the GOP to crumble on tax increases), California is heading down to a more real one of its own. With Governor Jerry Brown at the helm, the unions continue to have a free hand on milking wealth producing Californians to the brink, until the state’s beauty, resources and social ties (Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Napa Wine, Salinas and San Joaquin agriculture, the Pacific ports and beaches, etc etc) are not enough to hold them within the sate and they flee to more welcoming regions. Jerry Brown ran for Governor promising to fix California’s fiscal problems and balance the budget. During the 2010 election, I commented the election did not present a very appealing choice, but noted that “…Brown is more likely to push CA passed the brink in collusion with the unions, and actually bankrupt CA.” Also endorsed was Andy Favor for Comptroller rather than the incumbent John Chiang. Not surprisingly, California voters did not agree, and they now find themselves reaping some of the economic consequences of their chosen team. Brown, an ideological leftist with deep ties to the state unions was [...]

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Amarin “Hostile” Takeover

By Erik Zimerman On December 21, 2012 · 2 Comments · In The Whiskey Room

Background Amarin (AMRN) is an Irish based company with a recently FDA approved drug called Vascepa with very large market potential. Vascepa is broadly a prescription grade Omega 3 fatty acid (like those found in fish oils) based on highly purified EPA . Currently, the only other similar FDA approved drug comparable to Vascepa is Lovaza. Lovaza has reached annual sales of nearly $1 billion. Vascepa has several advantages over Lovaza, most importantly that it does not raise LDLs and in many cases lowers them. As far as market potential, Vascepa has a huge advantage over Lovaza. Lovaza was approved only for patients with very high triglycerides (>500 mg/dl) while Vascepa’s ANCHOR study shows that it is also effective for patients with high triglycerides (>200 mg/dl), and is on track to receive this label indication as well. The significance of this difference is hard to overstate. Lovaza’s prescription market population in the US is restricted to about 5 million Americans with very high triglycerides (which does not prevent it from selling $1 billion annually) while the US population with high triglycerides is 10 times that amount, at about 50 million. Though it should not be assumed that these two populations would purchase prescription drugs at the same rate, this fact alone makes [...]

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Big Surprise? – Brown leading California to the Brink as Revenues Fall Despite Tax Hikes

Amarin “Hostile” Takeover

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Big Surprise? – Brown leading California to the Brink as Revenues Fall Despite Tax Hikes

Amarin “Hostile” Takeover

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