In a novel approach by “Big Pharma”, drug company Amarin filed a lawsuit with the U.S. International Trade Commission to block the importation of products that contain a concentrated version of EPA, the component most commonly found in fish oil which may alleviate joint inflammation and reduce tryglycerides. This lawsuit does not ban natural fish oils that contain EPA and DHA. However, it can ban those products where the manufacturer boosts the EPA levels in their fish oil supplement. This is really a first step for big Pharma to find a different approach in their attack on supplements.
This is actually very creative. The irony is that Amarin is a British company, whose main office is in Dublin, Ireland … and is trying to get a U.S. Court to ban other importers of this supplement from shipping into the U.S. However, the strategy by the pharmaceutical industry of creating a patented drug out of a component of a naturally-occurring health food is not new. Amarin, which has gone through over $200 million in development, testing, and clinical trials to get FDA drug approval for this drug they call Vascepa, essentially concentrated EPA, is now trying to protect their turf and stop anyone else from competing. Or you can just get the same benefits inexpensively by taking natural fish oil.
Seagate would not be affected by the lawsuit because we do not concentrate any component of our fish oils. Everything we produce comes directly from Nature.
Hopefully Big Pharma will leave our fish and turtles alone and focus their expertise on making drugs that have their usual 100 bad side-effects and a couple of benefits. Leave our supplements alone. This sea turtle below is happily eating sea grass off the bottom in a preserve near Belize.
