Dive Brief:
- Shire's earnings per American Depositary Share (ADS) were $2.84, versus $2.36 for Q1 2014.
- The Q1 earnings beat analysts' expectations, which were $2.56 per ADR.
- Quarterly revenues increased 11% to $1.5 billion.
Dive Insight:
Revenue increases for Shire were driven largely by Vyvanse, Lialda, Cinryze, and Firazyr. Vyvanse in particular had strong sales on the heels of Shire's move to push it for a new binge eating disorder indication. On the downside, sales of Intuniv were lower due to generic competition and sales of other key drugs were negatively affected by the impact of the strong dollar.
The acquisition and integration of NPS Pharmaceuticals had a positive impact in the form of royalty income received on Sensipar. The future looks good at the moment, as the impact of the acquisition continues. Naptara, which came with NPS, received approval as hormone replacement therapy for patients with hyperparathyroidism in January 2015. Eventually those revenues will contribute to Shire's 2015 growth.
Currently, Shire is looking for low-to-mid product sales throughout the year; however, the company, which is based in Ireland, is realistic about the continuing currency impact on Elaprase, Replagal and Vpriv.