Amarin CEO John Thero pass­es ba­ton to Eu­rope com­mer­cial chief as M&A hopes con­tin­ue to de­flate

As Amarin breaks in­to the Eu­ro­pean mar­ket, John Thero is head­ing out.

Af­ter steer­ing the ship for 7 years, Thero is hand­ing the CEO job to Karim Mikhail, who came on board ear­li­er this year to head the com­mer­cial­iza­tion of Amarin’s fish oil pill in Eu­rope. Mikhail’s ap­point­ment is ef­fec­tive Aug. 1, when Thero will of­fi­cial­ly re­tire and tran­si­tion to an ad­vi­sor role un­til the end of 2021.

Since join­ing Amarin in 2009, Thero has been cred­it­ed for a slate of achieve­ments that gave in­vestors lots to be ex­cit­ed about. Un­der his watch, Vas­cepa — the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal grade omega-3 fat­ty acid prod­uct first ap­proved in 2012 — was cruised to a pos­i­tive Phase III da­ta read­out de­spite some con­tro­ver­sy, spurring an im­pres­sive re­duc­tion in risk of car­dio­vas­cu­lar events that led to a quick FDA add-on ap­proval.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER