From the WSJ Health Blog
Smallish Shire Bets on ADHD, Specialists
Posted by Scott Hensley
When it comes to pharmaceuticals, is small beautiful?
Shire, the U.K.’s third-largest drug maker, thinks so. Best known for its ADHD drug Adderall XR, Shire has thrived by concentrating on medical niches where it develops and sells drugs prescribed by specialists.
The company’s shares have shined at a time when the stocks of many bigger pharmaceuticals makers have suffered.
But worries about physicians’ uptake of Vyvanse, the company’s successor to Adderall XR, have knocked the price down from its 52-week high last September.
Adderall XR faces generic competition next year. So Shire’s been beefing up its sales force to support Vyvanse, already approved for treatment of ADHD in children. Shire expects to be able to market the drug for adult use sometime this summer. FDA has an action date of April 28 for Shire’s application, but the agency has never approved an indication for an ADHD medicine without at least one round of questions, Shire’s CFO, Angus Russell, told the Health Blog the other day.
Russell, slated to take over as CEO in June, talked with us about Vyvanse, the specialty drug market and his views on deals in the wake of a run-up in Shire’s stock on speculation that Pfizer might come calling with a takeover offer. |
