Strong Vyvanse Sales Boost Shire’s First Quarter
Shire posted another strong set of results yesterday, with a 20 percent rise in first-quarter earnings, just beating market expectations, and their attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) treatments and rare disease drugs once again performing well.
Shire, whose development has outstripped the industry thanks to its acquisitive strategy, reported earnings per ADS (American Depositary Share) of $1.48 in the three months to end-March, on revenue 21% higher at $1.17 billion (approximately £722.57 million).
Net income climbed nearly 13% to $238.4 million. Turnover was driven by the ADHD drug Vyvanse, which soared 29% to $260.0 million, while sales of its off-patent predecessor Adderall XR were flat at $111.4 million. Another ADHD drug, Intuniv, had sales of $68.5 million.
Shire’s rare diseases portfolio also fared well, with Replagal for Fabry disease up 28% to $134.4 million. Vpriv for Gaucher’s disease brought in $71.7 million, up 22%. Both these treatments benefited from Sanofi-owned Genzyme Corp’s manufacturing problems with its rival therapies Cerezyme and Fabrazyme. The Hunter Syndrome therapy Elaprase rose 21% to $125.6 million.
Angus Russell, Shire’s chief executive, commented that Shire have “made a strong start to the year and reiterate our expectation of good earnings growth in 2012.” Full-year sales of Vyvanse are expected to top $1 billion and he made reference to positive Phase II data that has just come out for the drug as a treatment for binge eating disorders.
Mr Russell added that “using our strong balance sheet, we’ve recently completed a number of acquisitions to add to the Phase II developments in our pipeline.” These include “an exciting haematology asset,” through the acquisition of FerroKin BioSciences, and a novel cell-based platform for its regenerative medicine business (bought from Pervasis Therapeutics).
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