Shire plc was a UK-founded

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

-registered specialty biopharmaceutical company. Originating in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

with an operational base in the United States, its brands and products included

Vyvanse Lisdexamfetamine, sold under the brand name Vyvanse among others, is a stimulant medication that is mainly used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in people over the age of five as well as moderate-to-severe binge eating ...

Lialda Mesalazine, also known as mesalamine or 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), is a medication used to treat inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. It is generally used for mildly to moderately severe disease. It ...

, and

Adderall XR Adderall and Mydayis are trade names for a combination drug called mixed amphetamine salts containing four salts of amphetamine. The mixture is composed of equal parts racemic amphetamine and dextroamphetamine, which produces a (3:1) ratio be ...

. Shire was acquired by

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 followin ...

on 8 January 2019. Shire was a global

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

company focused on serving people with rare diseases and other highly specialized conditions. The company's products were available in more than 100 countries across core therapeutic areas including

Hematology Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

Immunology Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see there ...

Neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

Lysosomal Storage Disorders Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs; ) are a group of over 70 rare inherited metabolic disorders that result from defects in lysosomal function. Lysosomes are sacs of enzymes within cells that digest large molecules and pass the fragments on to other ...

Gastrointestinal The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans and ...

/ Internal Medicine / Endocrine and Hereditary Angioedema; a growing franchise in Oncology; and an emerging, innovative pipeline in Ophthalmics. The original corporate headquarters was located in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

, Hampshire, England. Main offices are located in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland, the United States in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Massachusetts, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Illinois, and in

Zug, Switzerland , neighboring_municipalities = Cham, Baar, Walchwil, Steinhausen, Unterägeri , twintowns = Fürstenfeld (Austria), Kalesija (Bosnia-Herzegowina) Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo r ...

. In addition, Shire owns manufacturing sites in Lexington, Massachusetts, and

Social Circle In the social sciences, a social group can be defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics, and collectively have a sense of unity. Regardless, social groups come in a myriad of sizes and varieties ...

, Georgia. Shire's headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts, will be integrated with Takeda's new U.S. headquarters, which is being relocated from

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a north shore suburb of Chicago in Lake County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion extending into Cook County, Illinois. The population was 19,196 at the 2020 census. Deerfield is home to the headquarters of Walgreens Boo ...

, to the Boston area.

History

Early history

Shire was founded in 1986 in the UK by five entrepreneurs: Harry Stratford, Dennis Stephens, Peter Moriarty, Geoff Hall and Dr Jim Murray. Under the management of Rolf Stahel Shire was first listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

in 1996. Shire's initial products were calcium supplements ( Calcichew-D₃) for patients seeking to treat or prevent

osteoporosis Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disorder characterized by low bone mass, micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue leading to bone fragility, and consequent increase in fracture risk. It is the most common reason for a broken bone ...

. In 1997 the company acquired Pharmavene for £105 million in order to access Pharmavene's drug delivery methods. Later in the same year Shire acquired Richwood Pharmaceutical Company, forming Shire-Richwood Inc.

2000 to 2009

In 2001 the company acquired Biochem Canada. Shire's next acquisition didn't come until 2005 when it acquired Transkaryotic Therapeutics and two years later – in 2007 – New River Pharmaceuticals Inc, for a then company record of $2.6 billion. With the purchase of New River, Shire gained access and ownership of

. A year later the company acquired the German company Jerini, for $521 million. Jerini focused on treating

hereditary angioedema Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a disorder that results in recurrent attacks of severe swelling. The swelling most commonly affects the arms, legs, face, intestinal tract, and airway. If the intestinal tract is affected, abdominal pain and vomitin ...

. In 2008, in reaction to new taxation measures announced by the UK government in the treatment of royalties on patents, the company moved its tax domicile to

, Ireland.

2010 onwards

2010 saw a change in company strategy, with the company seeking to expand through mergers and acquisitions - culminating in the company becoming one of the most acquisitive in the industry. In 2010 the company acquired

Movetis Movetis was a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Belgium. It was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from parent company Johnson & Johnson. The company specialized in pharmaceuticals for treating gastro-intestinal disorders. The primary drug pr ...

, a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

company focusing on gastrointestinal products for $565 million, a year later it acquired

regenerative medicine Regenerative medicine deals with the "process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function". This field holds the promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs by st ...

manufacturer Advanced BioHealing. In 2012 the company acquired FerroKin BioSciences for $325 million along with FerroKins lead iron chelator - FBS0701. 2013 saw the company complete its highest number of acquisitions with Lotus Tissue Repair, Inc. (lead compound, ABH001), SARcode Bioscience Inc., with the last being

ViroPharma ViroPharma Incorporated was a pharmaceutical company that developed and sold drugs that addressed serious diseases treated by physician specialists and in hospital settings. The company focused on product development activities on viruses and hu ...

. Shire changed the name of ViroPharma to Shire Viropharma Inc. upon acquisition and on their final day of trading the company was valued at $3.3 billion. At $4.2 billion, ViroPharma set a new company record. In 2014 Shire acquired two rare disease drug companies: Fibrotech with its antifibrotic compounds for $75 million, and Lumena, a company researching rare gastro-intestinal and hepatic compounds, for $260 million. In 2015, NPS Pharmaceuticals was acquired for $5.2 billion, bringing along its rare disease drugs Gattex and

Natpara Recombinant human parathyroid hormone, sold under the brand names Preotact and Natpara, is an artificially manufactured form of the parathyroid hormone used to treat hypoparathyroidism. Recombinant human parathyroid hormone is used in the treat ...

. On their final day of trading, NPS had a market capitalisation of $4.99 billion. The company also acquired, later in the same year, Meritage Pharma for $245 million, Foresight Biotherapeutics for $300 million and Dyax for $6.5 billion. The purchases bolstered Shires gastro-intestinal and rare disease sectors, with Phase-III-ready treatment -

Budesonide Budesonide, sold under the brand name Pulmicort among others, is a medication of the corticosteroid type. It is available as an inhaler, nebulization solution, pill, nasal spray, and rectal forms. The inhaled form is used in the long-term mana ...

- for the treatment of

eosinophilic esophagitis Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is an allergic inflammatory condition of the esophagus that involves eosinophils, a type of white blood cell. In healthy individuals, the esophagus is typically devoid of eosinophils. In EoE, eosinophils migrate ...

. As well as expanding the company's pipeline with a late-stage treatment candidate for infectious conjunctivitis with lead candidate FST-100 and increasing the company's rare disease catalogue with Dyax's portfolio of plasma

kallikrein Kallikreins are a subgroup of serine proteases, enzymes capable of cleaving peptide bonds in proteins. In humans, plasma kallikrein (encoded by ''KLKB1 gene'') has no known paralogue, while tissue kallikrein-related peptidases (''KLKs'') encode a f ...

inhibitors against hereditary

angioedema Angioedema is an area of swelling ( edema) of the lower layer of skin and tissue just under the skin or mucous membranes. The swelling may occur in the face, tongue, larynx, abdomen, or arms and legs. Often it is associated with hives, which ...

(led by the approved drug Kalbitor and the Phase III DX-2930). In January 2016, the company made its most significant purchase, with the $32 billion acquisition of Baxalta (which had been spun-off from Baxter the previous year), creating the largest global biotech company focused solely on rare diseases. In April 2018, Shire agreed to sell its oncology business to French pharmaceutical company

Servier Servier Laboratories (French: Laboratoires Servier, often abbreviated to Servier) is an international pharmaceutical company governed by a non-profit foundation, with its headquarters in France (Suresnes). The consolidated turnover for the 2018 ...

for £1.7billion.

Aborted AbbVie takeover

On 20 June 2014, Shire rejected a takeover attempt by

AbbVie AbbVie is an American publicly traded biopharmaceutical company founded in 2013. It originated as a spin-off of Abbott Laboratories. History On October 19, 2011, Abbott Laboratories announced its plan to separate into two publicly traded compan ...

. AbbVie offered £46.11 per share (£27.3 billion or $46.5 billion in total). On 8 July, the offer was increased to $51.5 billion. On 18 July, it was announced that AbbVie would acquire Shire for $54.8 billion. On 15 October, news broke suggesting AbbVie was reconsidering their proposed takeover deal due to changes in US "Tax Inversion" law and on 16 October AbbVie's board recommended that shareholders vote against the deal. This news sent Shire's share price down over 27%; however, AbbVie would be subject to a $1.6 billion break-up fee, payable to Shire. On 21 October, the merger was called off.

Takeda takeover

In April 2018, reported that

had an approach to acquire Shire. Days later Shire announced they had rejected all three Takeda bids. The first bid valued the business at £41 billion (£28 per Shire shares paid in Takeda shares plus £16 per share in cash), the second £43 billion (£28.75 per Shire shares paid in Takeda shares plus £16.75 per share in cash) and the third £44 billion (£28 per Shire shares paid in Takeda shares plus £17.75 per share in cash). Reuters also reported interest from

Allergan Allergan plc is an American, Irish-domiciled pharmaceutical company that acquires, develops, manufactures and markets brand name drugs and medical devices in the areas of medical aesthetics, eye care, central nervous system, and gastroenterology. ...

however they ruled themselves out a day later. A day later Takeda increased their offer with a fourth bid, to £26 per Shire shares paid in Takeda shares plus £21 per share in cash - giving a total value of £44.3 billion ($62.1 billion). On 24 April, Takeda submitted an enhanced fifth bid for the company. On 25 April, Shire said that they will recommend the revised £45.8 billion ($64 billion) offer to their shareholders. The enhanced offer included a more generous cash component, with the deal offering £21.76 ($30.33) in cash for each Shire ordinary share. The same day,

GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the ten ...

ruled out making any form of counter-bid. On 8 May 2018, an agreement was finally reached in which Shire was sold to

Takeda is a Japanese family name.1990 Census Name Files< ...

in a $62 billion deal. Takeda's acquisition of Shire closed on 8 January 2019.

Acquisition history

Shire Plc Shire plc was a UK-founded Jersey-registered specialty biopharmaceutical company. Originating in the United Kingdom with an operational base in the United States, its brands and products included Vyvanse, Lialda, and Adderall XR. Shire was ...

(Founded 1986, Acq 2019) **Pharmavene (Acq 1997) **Richwood Pharmaceutical Company (Acq 1997) **Biochem Canada (Acq 2001) **Transkaryotic Therapeutics (Acq 2005) **New River Pharmaceuticals Inc (Acq 2007) ** Jerini (Acq 2008) **Movetis (Acq 2012) **Advanced BioHealing (Acq 2011) **FerroKin BioSciences (Acq 2012) **Lotus Tissue Repair, Inc (Acq 2013) **Premacure AB (Acq 2013) **SARcode Bioscience Inc (Acq 2013) **

(Founded 1994, Acq 2013) ***Lev Pharmaceuticals (Acq 2008) **Fibrotech (Acq 2014) **Lumena (Acq 2014) **NPS Pharmaceuticals (Acq 2015) **Meritage Pharma (Acq 2015) **Foresight Biotherapeutics (Acq 2015) **Dyax (Acq 2015) ** Baxalta (Acq 2016)

Products

The Annual Revenue figures in the following table were drawn from the company's 2015 preliminary results. ADDERALL 20 XR

Licences & Royalties

In July 2014, Shire licensed the rights to the investigational Hunter syndrome compound, AGT-182, from ArmaGen for up to $225 million. The Annual Revenue figures in the following Table were drawn from the company's 2015 preliminary results.

Corporate leadership

Flemming Ørnskov Flemming Ørnskov (born 1957/58) is a Danish businessman. He has been the chief executive officer (CEO) of Galderma since October 2019. He was previously the CEO of Shire plc, a FTSE 100 specialty biopharmaceutical company as of 30 April 2013, ...

, was the company's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

through 8 January 2019 with Takeda's acquisition of Shire. Ginger Gregory as chief

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

officer, Jeffrey Poulton as

CFO The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

, and Philip Vickers as head of R&D. James Bowling vacated his position as interim CFO in the aftermath of the collapse of the AbbVie inversion deal. The chair of Shire's board of directors was Susan Kilsby.

Legal issues

False Claims Act violations

In September 2014, Shire reached a $56.5 million settlement with the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

for alleged violations of the

False Claims Act The False Claims Act (FCA), also called the "Lincoln Law", is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. It is the federal government's primary litigat ...

. The Justice Department alleged that Shire had improperly marketed and promoted Adderall XR, Daytrana, Vyvane, Pentasa, and Lialda during various periods between 2004 and 2010. The allegations included claims that Shire had made exaggerated and false statements regarding product safety, promoted medications for non-

FDA The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

approved off-label use, and marketed products on unsubstantiated claims of beneficial side effects, including reductions in criminality, traffic accidents,

sexually transmitted infections Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral se ...

, and divorce rates.

Illegal promotion of Dermagraft

In August 2017, Shire reached a $350 million settlement with the Department of Justice for violations of the same act, regarding the unlawful promotion of Shire's product Dermagraft.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shire Plc Pharmaceutical companies established in 1986 Pharmaceutical companies disestablished in 2019 Pharmaceutical companies of Ireland Pharmaceutical companies of the United Kingdom Biotechnology companies of Ireland Biotechnology companies of the United Kingdom Biotechnology companies established in 1986 Biotechnology companies disestablished in 2019 Defunct companies of Jersey Companies based in Dublin (city) Companies based in Basingstoke Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Multinational companies headquartered in the Republic of Ireland Irish companies established in 1986 2019 disestablishments in Ireland 1986 establishments in Jersey 2019 disestablishments in Jersey Orphan drug companies Life sciences industry British companies established in 1986 British companies disestablished in 2019 2019 mergers and acquisitions Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Tax inversions