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
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