Chief Executive’s review
“We're asking hard questions, exploring new indications, looking for ways to extend proven technologies into new treatments.”
Angus Russell
Chief Executive Officer
Over the course of the past two years at Shire, we've broadened our pipeline/portfolio with eight new products while successfully bolstering our existing franchises.
Risks-wisely measured and judiciously taken-are part and parcel of every successful company, and certainly we've taken our fair share at Shire. In our brightest moments we have stood at a critical juncture, made defining, not-always-obvious decisions, and redefined the future, not just for ourselves, but for the physicians and patients we serve.
Since succeeding Matt Emmens as CEO in June, I have been particularly keen on staying true to those aspects of our culture that brought us to our present state as one of the most effective biopharmaceutical companies in the world: the willingness to take measured risks; the courage to challenge one another; and the unyielding commitment to the patients, physicians, and communities we serve. We spent the time, in 2008, to look around and to project forward-to set the targets that will enable us to emerge, by 2015, as one of the most valuable specialty biopharmaceutical companies in the world. We committed to the underlying thesis that now forms the core of our corporate brand-that we strive to be as brave as the people we help.
Of course, achieving our mission demands quite a lot of Shire's pipeline as well as its marketed portfolio, and I am very pleased with the steps that we have taken to further leverage both. Consider this: over the course of the last two years alone, we've successfully completed six deals that have yielded eight new products in our pipeline/portfolio. Consider, also, this: the combined sales of new products launched in the past four years achieved $1 billion of sales in 2008.
We're committed to going the distance with every product at Shire-asking hard questions, exploring new indications, looking for ways to extend proven technologies into new treatments; always with the patients' needs most at heart. The acquisition of New River, for example, didn't just provide Shire with VYVANSE, a next-generation treatment for ADHD; it opened the door to new possibilities associated with 'CarrierWave' technology, which enhances drug metabolism and may well have applications for other medicines. At the same time we're expanding our patient populations with plans to expand our presence in markets outside the US and the proposed launch in the US of INTUNIV, our first non-stimulant ADHD drug.
In the gastrointestinal business unit, we are taking similar strides-leveraging our success with LIALDA, our expertise in ulcerative colitis, and our relationships with gastro-enterologists to explore new options for patients suffering from an entire range of Inflammatory Bowel diseases. We're currently in the midst of Phase 2 trials for SPD550, a compound we licensed in from Alba Therapeutics Corporation ('Alba') because we believe that it can have important implications for patients suffering from Celiac disease.
We've come together with one overriding purpose: to be as brave as the people we help.
Three and a half years ago, when Shire acquired what has since become known as Shire Human Genetic Therapies, there were only four projects in the pipeline and there were many questions about this relatively small company's future. Three deals later- with Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. ('Amicus'), Zymenex A/S ('Zymenex') and Jerini AG ('Jerini')-HGT is 1,000 people strong, with three marketed drugs in its portfolio (REPLAGAL, ELAPRASE and FIRAZYR) and a number of very exciting Phase 2 and 3 products designed to treat such debilitating conditions as Gaucher disease, Fabry disease, and Metachromatic Leukodystrophy. HGT now occupies an entire campus in Lexington, Massachusetts-a campus that we opened to investors in November during our first-ever HGT Business Day.
Moreover, HGT products are helping Shire meet its goal of global diversification, with REPLAGAL and ELAPRASE together now approved and in use in more than 40 countries, and 70% of HGT sales now generated outside the United States. Our world really is expanding rapidly at Shire, and we are taking aggressive steps to capitalize on-and to create- opportunities for patients around the world who do not yet have access to the life-altering medicines that we manufacture and sell.
Pressures abound in the current economy, but at Shire we're not just merely biding our time. We are moving forward-bolstering our pipeline through business-enhancing acquisitions, anticipating breakthroughs helping new patient populations with unmet needs, capitalizing on new patient populations, and looking for commonalities between our Specialty and HGT businesses. It's been an exciting time and the future promises even more. I thank my colleagues for continuing to help Shire live up to its promise.
Angus Russell, Chief Executive Officer