UK's Shire Reports Revenue Growth in 2004

UK-based drugmaker Shire Pharmaceuticals has announced revenue growth of 13% to US$1.36bn in 2004. Royalties also increased by 13% in the year to US$230.4mn, and sales of leading product Adderall, a therapy for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, were 28% higher year-on-year at US$606.7mn. The company reported that it has appealed the decision to withdraw the product from sale in Canada, noting that the US FDA has declined to take similar action or order a re-labelling. The drug also faces the threat of generic competition.

Meanwhile, the company is confident that recently-launched drugs will underpin future growth. Pentasa (mesalamine, a treatment for ulcerative colitis was launched in the US in September, and an EU launch for end-stage renal disease drug Fosrenol (lanthanum carbonate) is expected later this year after its approval in Sweden and the US. Thrombocythemia product Xagrid (anagrelide hydrochloride) was also approved in the EU and some Scandinavian markets.

Further, the company noted that it had divested its vaccines business in the year, signed a collaborative agreement for a new ADHD drug with US-based New River Pharmaceuticals and out-licensed HIV/AIDS compound SPD754 to Australian drugmaker Avexa Ltd.