By Jonathan D. Rockoff And Marta Falconi 

Fourth-quarter profit at Shire PLC surged to $2.17 billion thanks to the breakup fee received from AbbVie Inc., as the drug maker said it is looking to new-product launches this year to help offset a key patent loss and the stronger dollar.

Dublin-based Shire got a $1.64 billion breakup fee after U.S. drug maker AbbVie walked away, in October, from a planned $54 billion takeover after the Obama administration took steps to deter such tax-lowering inversion deals.

Shire sales in the fourth quarter rose nearly 19% to $1.58 billion, beating the $1.55 billion forecast in a FactSet poll of analysts.

Shire Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov has been shifting the company's focus to rare diseases and specialty drugs, which aren't as competitive as traditional drug markets and have proven relatively insulated from pricing pressures in the U.S. and Europe.

Dr. Ornskov said the company expects to receive a boost this year from the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug Vyvanse for binge-eating disorder, as well as further sales growth for rare-disease drugs Cinryze and Firazyr. Shire is working on closing on a $5.2 billion takeover of NPS Pharmaceuticals, whose drugs Gattex and Natpara also could bolster Shire revenue.

"There's quite a number of growth drivers," Dr. Ornskov said in an interview.

For 2015, Shire forecast that volatile exchange rates and the loss of exclusivity for one of its key products--attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment Intuniv--would lower growth rates below last year's. Based on recent exchange rates, Shire said it expects low- to mid-single-digit product sales growth and earnings growth in the mid-single digits.

Jeff Poulton, Shire's interim chief financial officer, said the company is forecasting that currency headwinds will decrease revenue by to 3% to 4% if they stay at the exchange rates from late January. He said Shire's foreign-exchange exposure is higher because its rare-disease business is world-wide and roughly half of sales are outside the U.S.

Fourth-quarter profit soared to $2.17 billion, from $64 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Sales of Vyvanse, which already was being used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and is Shire's top-selling drug, rose 16% to $383.4 million in the quarter. Shire said in a conference call with analysts and investors that the drug's new use treating binge-eating disorder could lead to $300 million in additional yearly sales in 2020.

Shire, which had $6 billion in total revenue last year, has projected it will reach $10 billion in yearly product sales by 2020. Dr. Ornskov indicated the company was open to doing more deals, so long as they fit strategically.

Write to Jonathan D. Rockoff at Jonathan.Rockoff@wsj.com and Marta Falconi at marta.falconi@wsj.com

Access Investor Kit for NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US62936P1030

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

Nps (NASDAQ:NPSP)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De May 2024 a Jun 2024 Haga Click aquí para más Gráficas Nps.
Nps (NASDAQ:NPSP)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Jun 2023 a Jun 2024 Haga Click aquí para más Gráficas Nps.